million dollar trader

MrsJohnMurphy

Great viewing I thought, some idiots in the panel who are way out of their depth, like yer wan who "thrives under pressure" crying for 90 mins.

Intertesting to note at the end that the Lex who is putting up the money, came up with the idea of for the show. I am sure he is going to make a packet, selling the show to other countries / channels.

mjm

Mr E

I really liked it too... one of those rare reality TV shows with a little bit of intelligence. The elderly chap was definitely out of his depth and won't last too much longer. I think the woman might turn it around though. One good deal is all she needs to give her some confidence. Tough time to start trading though (the week Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae started to go tits up).

Good show, and on BBC2 so I can Sky+ it.

Aidric

This was quality programming right up my street and was intelligent viewing for anybody with an interest in financial markets. I'm looking forward to next weeks installment.

mike65

I reckon you can tell none of them placed a bet in thier lives!

The old fella clearly not at the races, had to laugh as he bought sliding shares twice over! The good looking young woman (who got lots of airtime funnily enough) is not cut out either. A deffo lack of psychology displayed in the last segment where they all bought short on the presumption of a price collapse not appreciating that markets have a habit of going up a little when the news is bad but not as bad as expected.

sundula

Good show and a dream as there is no ad breaks.

Age Action Ireland wont be rushing out to sign up that old guy as a rep. He seem to be taking the whole thing very lightly and looked well out of his depth. They all seem to be looking for immediate results rather than doing trades that might mature over a few days.

irishiceman

watched it last night.....i really couldnt believe how blasae they were about spending the money.....! i mean i know its not theres but they are getting a bonus @ the end....

Im predicting the greenie guy willl do very well......

JoeyJJ

Good show, looking forward to next week. The fight promoter and the green lad are ahead of the rest at the moment, with everyone going negative on the financial market i thought one of them would buck the trend and go against the herd. Pretty bad none of them done a long buy with the short.

johnk123

I watched it too. Thought it was very good I have to say. Anyone else watch the program ok BBC4 after it??? The kind lady who speaks during the end credits pointed me in that direction.

robo

Missed it but will try and catch it somehow. Sounds like a good show.

purplegeko

I really enjoyed this show - it was both entertaining and educational. It really gives an insight into what a city trader has to be aware of when trading stocks - turmoil in mid east can affect shares in airlines etc. but it actually makes perfect sense. That poor woman - the young indecisive one (that would be me) i can't see her lasting to the end. Really looking forward to next week i can see the environmental guy being the most successful trader.

ElNino

The old guy really hasn't got a clue and is lazy as sin. Buying shares when you meant to sell shares is unforgiveable. And the way we he asked the dealer to spell out the trade was painful.

Are some of them going to get cut next week I wonder?

robo

The website says that tomorrows episode is episode 2 out of 3 - link

Tomohawk

I thought this programme was made in really bad taste, what with all the banking scandals that have happened in the UK and Ireland in the last 6 months and what with the recession and all.

m83

Episode 2 is on BBC2 tonight (Monday)

Just wanted to recommend this new BBC show. Randomly caught episode 1 last week and really enjoyed it. Basically 8 normal people are given a 1 million dollar hedge fund to manage. As it so happens, the markets crashed when the show was shot which makes for better viewing.

Then stay tuned for Screenwipe at 10! Great night of telly

Mr E

There was a thread last week, m83.
Behold the Million Dollar Merger.

m83

Sorry! I searched and came up with nothing?!?

Mr E

Really?

Looking forward to tonights episode... should be good.

m83

Mr E wrote: »

Really?

Looking forward to tonights episode... should be good.

Yup! Searched the forum, honest!

Really looking forward to this too! Lex van Damme.. what a name!

amdublin

Fair play to Simon (the aul fella) for his honesty

This is a brilliant program!

MrsJohnMurphy

Great stuff again tonight. Pity next week is the last week. I only wish this was on for a full series.

Dont know why Fiona wasnt sacked, totally out of her depth. I think the only reason she was left in was to make the last show more interesting.

mjm

robo

It is one hell of a programme.
The way it is showing us how different people are working - I particularly like the guy who works in the club, he has some luck on his side, but there is some more conviction in his trading than Amit(I think) and Simon. They don't have the stamina for the trading floor...btw neither do I!

Aidric

Another great installment tonight. It was time Simon went, he wasn't researching his trades and just ploughing in, did sort of feel a bit for the guy in the end though when he was told pack up as soon as possible. Hopefully that cry me a river girl will follow him shortly. She should have went tonight.

MrsJohnMurphy

ps. anyone enjoying the series should consider reading the book "Fooled By Randomness" that they zoomed in on tonight on one of the desks for a split second. I read it last winter, its a great read that goes into lots of depth on some of the issues covered in the series so far.

mjm

dealhunter

Even better and by the same the author is "the black swan". The author Nicholas Taleb effectively warned (well before the credit crisis began) that the markets were not pricing risk correctly. We all know what happened next...

m83

Another fantastic episode. The Simon storyline was quite hearty. Fair play to Anton I guess for giving him some bit of a send off at least. I can totally understand why he didn't want afterwork drinks.. spent some time in canary wharf last year, it gets crazy every day after work down at The Slug.

BaZmO*

MrsJohnMurphy wrote: »

Dont know why Fiona wasnt sacked, totally out of her depth. I think the only reason she was left in was to make the last show more interesting.

Yeah it's ridiculous that she's still there. You'd swear it was her money the way she was going on. It has been said to them a million times over that they need to amass a portfolio to protect their investments and she only had one investment. :rolleyes: She would've been better off just sticking some money on a horse.

robo wrote: »

I particularly like the guy who works in the club, he has some luck on his side

Is that they guy that works as a fight promoter? He's just been lucky so far to an extent. He's just invested in brand names. I doubt he'd make much in the long run.

Aidric wrote: »

It was time Simon went, he wasn't researching his trades and just ploughing in

In fairness to him he was actually researching them but he just had no conviction in what he was doing. I just think he couldn't handle the randomness of it all and was just panicking under the pressure.


All in all though it's a great show and gives a fantastic insight into the world of trading. But it does confrim what I always thought about the markets, and that is that it's a load of gambling nonsense.

mike65

The scouser is the rock of common sense in that room. I think he or the quiet middle aged woman will be the most wealth generating. Or Fiona will have the buy/sell of the year and end up winning!

mike65

Bump!

And there was me saying he was okay, tonight it all kicked off as the two bosses made a decision about who would get canned.

Twas Clio

anyway after the dust settled those who remained got on with it and outperformed the market as a whole

including the boss!

.

MrsJohnMurphy

A great series. Pity it wasnt on for longer. Id love to be working at this, sitting there soaking up news, trying to come with some angles and keep the head. Not surprising people only last a few years as a trader and retire in the late 20s or early 30s.

Hopefully BBC2 will run a new full length series or some channel will pick it up, thought I am not sure if it would be as same with breaks in the middle of it breaking up the intensity of watching the show.

The scouser should have stuck at it, Id say he feels like a bit of a prat when he sees the full conversion they have with her on the TV.

mjm

dealhunter

I was a bit disappointed by the episode tonight. Very little detail on the final P&L of the fund but was surprised Emile walked as he had shown potential but its not exactly like he threw much away after seeing what had become of the final 3.
I would love to see an Irish version of the concept. If Bill Cullen could be the Master of the Apprentice could you only imagine who they would get to be Van Dam...lol!!

MrsJohnMurphy

dealhunter wrote: »

If Bill Cullen could be the Master of the Apprentice could you only imagine who they would get to be Van Dam...lol!!

well Sean Fitzpatrick has alot of time on his hands these days ........

:eek:

mjm

Idu

BaZmO* wrote: »

All in all though it's a great show and gives a fantastic insight into the world of trading. But it does confrim what I always thought about the markets, and that is that it's a load of gambling nonsense.

Ridiculous statement. If anything it showed that gambling will get you nowhere in the business. No suprise that the three who took on board what the bosses were saying were there at the end. They were the three most diligent, ruthless and efficient who didnt let any outside influences distract them.

BaZmO*

janets_on_clubs wrote: »

Ridiculous statement. If anything it showed that gambling will get you nowhere in the business. No suprise that the three who took on board what the bosses were saying were there at the end. They were the three most diligent, ruthless and efficient who didnt let any outside influences distract them.

Even though my comment was meant to be flippant there's still a bit of truth in it. At the end of the day Trading is and always will be gambling. You might want to call it "educated gambling" but it's still gambling. The Traders have to "gamble" on what they think might happen, that in anybody's book is the the definition of gambling.


As for last night's show, it was ok. I was dissapointed to see the Scouse lad walk out as he had real promise and his reasons for walking were just stupid. The girl just wasn't cut out for it and it's not as if they were that ruthless in getting rid of her and it wasn't a game show it was real life trading with real money. The others that walked just used it as an excuse to go too because they weren't cutting it either. The 3 that remained done exceptionally well considering the climate they were trading in.

jackal

I loved the last show. The dutch dude finally took the gloves off a bit with the spanners. The vet girl was just an absolute mess, and was highly distracting. The bit where she starts yapping and the dutch guy is just like "I don't care what you think, it doesn't matter to me...etc." She really made a meal of leaving. She would have lasted 1 - 2 hours in the real world. They were way too patient.

Were amile and the crying vet woman having a secret relationship? He turned from level-headed lovable giant scouser to raging idiot in no time. Very strange.

mike65

South African I think.

Aidric

I enjoyed the last installment of this excellent series. The scouse did make a clown of himself up and leaving but it just proves he wasn't cut out for it anyway. I was surprised none of them took up a trading job post the show given the top three's decent results.

MrsJohnMurphy

Aidric wrote: »

I was surprised none of them took up a trading job post the show given the top three's decent results.

It was fairly obvious that the lady who did the best mightnt be able for it long term with her family commitments but fair play to her, she did well on the show and the other fella was always going to go back to college too.

I agree though, I suspected the army fella might have landed a job at it. He seemed to be loving it and obviously has a cool head from his army training.

mjm