TV show about trading

Love or Hate the TV show - Million Dollar Traders

  • Love it

    Votes: 121 61.1%
  • Hate it

    Votes: 16 8.1%
  • Not too bothered either way really

    Votes: 61 30.8%

  • Total voters
    198
  • Poll closed .
Yes, the Producer was emphasizing that they wanted to film "the personal journey" of the participants (which made me cringe to be honest).

It's one thing watching other people on TV but quite another when you realise you might be in the spotlight yourself, having your own epiphany ...or meltdown!

That was one of the reasons I effectively backed myself out of it.

Also because it required ten weeks away from home and it just wasn't practical being a single mum.

I'm actually interested to see if they made any money!

The professional trader behind it is Lex Van Dam - who put his own money up for the show.

There's a telegraph article about it here
Million Dollar Traders: Lex Van Dam and his million dollar TV gamble - Telegraph
 
One thing that's a little deceptive is that they are positioning the show as "ordinary people" turned into traders and I think the people they chose were all
a )exceptional in different ways
b) have existing links directly or indirectly with trading

eg I don't know if they all made it to the show but when i was interviewed the people who were going through were
- a top online poker player (trading = poker ?!)
- a guy with a Phd in muscial patterns (with music's obvious links to maths and patterns with obvious links to stock charts...)
- an ex SAS soldier (risk taker? calm under pressure?)

etc etc

they were also looking for someone to fill the role of "Christian" (as per the original turtle experiment )

seems like they gave up looking for that and then hunted for someone "ethical" which was as close as they can get to that

i was pretty much told before the interview by an assistant that if i come across as super ethical i'd have a good chance of landing a place in the show
( i decided NOT to be anything that i wasn't - i.e i consider myself honest and ethical in that sense but not in the sense that i'd pass up the chance of a good return purely because it meant betting on tobacco say)

from the blurb it looks as if they found an "environmentalist" to fill that role

even in the interview i did start to feel a bit like it was manipulating people into playing certain roles and that's one reason why i'd like to see how honest the whole thing is

or whether it's going to be like Big Brother type thing where they set people up against each other

I expect they will try and torment the environmetalist with betting on oil...:)
 
As I recall, the plan was that the traders would be rewarded based on a SHARED pot of money
and not individual performance

This sets up the possibility that the traders will argue with each other as they see one traders poor decisions lose them ALL a share in the money

You can imagine the producers licking their lips at the possibility for "human interest" story out of it all...!
 
Anyone know what they're trading, bet you anything there's going to be moments where people shout at their tv:

"why the **** would you buy that".
 
Not sure what they are trading but the preview comment in the Telegraph says we will see
"panicking novices have to cope with the meltdown of US mortgage giants Fanny May and Freddie Mac"

I believe the original turtles were allowed to trade anything pretty much

Don't suppose they will be given such free reign but my guess at a minimum would be

oil
gold
forex - various
various US share indices

maybe some other commodities

Am really interested to see if they give any mention or credit to the original turtle experiment
or if they totally ignore that aspect of the whole show

I have to admit that I had not even heard of the Turtle experiment at the time I was screentested but subsequently found out about it and saw the remarkable similarities with what they were doing here
 
Have just added a poll to the thread - so we can vote on the show..

Being a newbie here, can't resist playing with forum gadgets!

I won't be able to watch it live tonight but will probably watch late tonight or tomorrow and throw in my vote..

I think I want them to be shouted at alot by Van Dam and not make much money - that way I won't regret talking myself out of being in it...

On the other hand , as a comparative novice myself, I kind of want them to do really well..

Will probably watch it crouched behind the sofa ..like Dr Who as a kid !!
 
Million Dollar Traders (BBC2)- anyone watching?

Just wondered if anyone was watching this at the moment?

Interesting program. What a great opportunity :).

(although the program makers obviously have no confidence in the pound either, hence the title).
 
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watching it now on my catch-up channel. interesting so far....though my dad just texted me to say they all 'look like roadkill'
 
... the old guy who bought instead of sold shares... haha, how embarassing. Expensive mistake.

Oh sorry- you said you are watching on catchup! didn't mean to spoil the plot.
 
what a load of crap!

put a load of newbies in a room and don't tell them anything and then get angry because they don't have any open positions just for the sake of it. Must be just like the turtles (NOT)
 
Have just added a poll to the thread - so we can vote on the show..

........... myself, I kind of want them :mad:to do really well..

Will probably watch it crouched behind the sofa ..like Dr Who as a kid !!

Dam missed it!!
anyone know if you can watch BBC2 shows online after they have been aired? had a look there but couldnt find it.
Shane
 
i think the idea is that they trade for a few days without any help and then they get the TA instruction etc etc

the vet is hot!
 
To be honest, I'm pretty sure they had a proper induction - ie when they got a bollocking about not hedging.

What do you guys think about them lot:

Army soldier - scared
woman (daddy's girl) - over thinker
old man - couldnt give two ****s and couldnt see a ****ing resistance line if he walked into one
student - not much about him (potential~?)
boxer - I think he'll do better than most of them
enviro guy - wtf, "only buy"
shop keeper + mother - they didn't do anything

ps. this is the 3rd thread
 
I enjoyed it, but I would have liked it much more if they were trading more technically fromt he charts rather than analysing news stories, and on US stocks / forex rather than mainly UK shares.
 
The way I did that is:

32 * 10 = 320
320 * 3 = 960

So that's 30 * 32
now just add 2 * 32 = 64

960 + 64 = 1024

I know it's long winded but that's how I broke it down in my head so I didn't have to do any long multiplication.
 
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