Million Dollar Traders: the Documentary About Novice Traders
If you’re interested in markets, exchange rates and currencies, there’s an interesting documentary mini-series, Million Dollar Traders!
Eight ordinary people are given a million dollars. They get two weeks of intensive training and two months to work the market and get results.
Can they do it?
About the series
| Title | Million Dollar Traders |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Year | filmed in 2008, shown on the BBC |
| Genre | documentary |
The experiment shows how a London trading floor works from the inside. The money comes from hedge fund manager Lex van Dam: he wants to see whether ordinary people can become professionals, and he expects a return on his investment…
But nobody suspects that the financial crisis is still ahead.
The traders were picked in spring 2008, before the American crisis began. The successful candidates were trained and given purpose-built trading desks in the heart of the City of London — the “Square Mile”. Among them were an environmentalist, a soldier, a boxing promoter, an entrepreneur, a former IT consultant, a vet, a student and a shopkeeper — people from completely different walks of life.
My impressions
I liked the series: it was interesting to watch the worries of the young vet, the retired IT guy, and the trader who kept trying to beat the market so he’d never have to work in the family business again. All the participants were colorful characters, and each had their own style that helped or hurt their trading.
The conclusion is clear: trading the financial markets is very hard (I mean profitable trading 
). It can be learned, and a few people out of a thousand manage it. But do you need it? Maybe it’s not worth your time and money…