BBC2. 9pm. Million Dollar Traders

PasturesNew

Part of the City Season

Eight ordinary people are given a million dollars, a fortnight of intensive training and two months to run their own hedge fund. Can they make a killing?

The experiment reveals the inner workings of a City trading floor. The money is supplied by hedge fund manager Lex van Dam: he wants to see if ordinary people can beat the professionals, and he expects a return on his investment too. Yet no-one foresees the financial crisis that lies ahead.

The traders were selected in spring 2008, before the US credit crisis gathered pace. The successful candidates were chosen, trained and dispatched to their specially created trading room in the heart of the Square Mile. Among them are an environmentalist, a soldier, a boxing promoter, an entrepreneur, a retired IT consultant, a vet, a student and a shopkeeper.
As the novices learn the dark art of trading stocks and shares, the financial markets start to buckle. Making money takes second place to basic survival as the brutal realities of global economics take their toll on the traders. How do they cope? Will they secure themselves a bonus, or walk away with nothing?

blakester

PasturesNew wrote: »

Part of the City Season

Eight ordinary people are given a million dollars, a fortnight of intensive training and two months to run their own hedge fund. Can they make a killing?

The experiment reveals the inner workings of a City trading floor. The money is supplied by hedge fund manager Lex van Dam: he wants to see if ordinary people can beat the professionals, and he expects a return on his investment too. Yet no-one foresees the financial crisis that lies ahead.

The traders were selected in spring 2008, before the US credit crisis gathered pace. The successful candidates were chosen, trained and dispatched to their specially created trading room in the heart of the Square Mile. Among them are an environmentalist, a soldier, a boxing promoter, an entrepreneur, a retired IT consultant, a vet, a student and a shopkeeper.
As the novices learn the dark art of trading stocks and shares, the financial markets start to buckle. Making money takes second place to basic survival as the brutal realities of global economics take their toll on the traders. How do they cope? Will they secure themselves a bonus, or walk away with nothing?

PN, I read in another thread that you provide subtitles to some telly programmes:rotfl: Will this service be offered this evening?

PasturesNew

blakester wrote: »

PN, I read in another thread that you provide subtitles to some telly programmes:rotfl: Will this service be offered this evening?

That was a free taster.

Subtitles are by subscription only now I'm afraid.

PasturesNew

As a precis... it was good, although you don't see the man whose money it is in this episode (he will appear in future weeks). You did hear him on the phone.

The old duffer was a right eejit, the woman fell to pieces. They were all making trades that were too small and too few. Overall they've lost money. I think there was one big win. They seemed to be backing everything the wrong way. The old duffer even managed to say buy when he meant sell and then had to say sellx2 to correct that - losing £200 in a 2 minute phone call.

The programme didn't show you any footage of most of them at work, it just focussed on three of the people. Over the weeks I guess they'll be introducing the others into the mix; they were there/trading the same as the others, but obviously ended up on the cutting room floor.

Early on the old duffer even managed to be out of the trading room scoffing from a bowl when the markets opened ... and he was losing money while laughing and shuffling about, not taking it seriously at all.

Quite interesting to watch, if you have some OCD tendencies.

If I remember, I'll watch the series.

shirlgirl2004

I watched it and enjoyed it. I think you summarised well except that the Eco man seemed to be the most successful. Also the ex-army man had a really good idea that didn't pay off but at least he seemed to have a plan rather than making random guesses like the old man.

Lorian

Bit like watching a slow motion car crash but interesting all the same.

What was the name of that trading programme a few years ago (could be a decade who knows) where you could make money buy buying the same shares as they did, as the programme did a good ramp job?

ffacoffipawb

Lorian wrote: »

Bit like watching a slow motion car crash but interesting all the same.

What was the name of that trading programme a few years ago (could be a decade who knows) where you could make money buy buying the same shares as they did, as the programme did a good ramp job?

I remember that programme, cery fond of Persimmon Homes and LOF's Preferred (whatever happened to that) if I recall correctly.

Can't recall the programme name though, but it was enjoyable.

PasturesNew

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

I watched it and enjoyed it. I think you summarised well except that the Eco man seemed to be the most successful. Also the ex-army man had a really good idea that didn't pay off but at least he seemed to have a plan rather than making random guesses like the old man.

Ah, yeah, I had completely forgotten about him!
Thanks.

blakester

PasturesNew wrote: »

That was a free taster.

Subtitles are by subscription only now I'm afraid.

On acount of me being a MSE wannabe, I watched the programme instead of taking up your kind offer of the subscription to Pasturesnew TV Program Precis (try saying that quickly:rotfl: )

obsessed_saver

Hmm. Lex van Dam is a bit of an idiot then. Hope he had taken the supervisor's advice - it's "risk management".

Edit: Maybe BBC paid him back the $1,000,000 from making this programme.

WTF?_2

Thanks for the heads up - will check for that on iPlayer.

I think they're finding out that hedge funds only really work when the market is going consistently up (despite the hype that they cover against all conditions) and credit is easy to get.

In that case it's not difficult - Leverage. Buy. Profit. Take big management fee and bonus. Repeat.


Not quite as easy when markets are unstable and tending to head downwards.