Dot-Com Bubble Documentary

The evolution of the Internet and emergence of online businesses brought with them a phenomenon typical of new industries and technologies - a stock market bubble. Indeed the dot-com bubble is one of the largest stock market bubbles of recent history (with the subsequent crash likewise one of the most harsh). But what happened and why? This documentary adds to the list of resources on the tech boom and bust, and makes for interesting and informative viewing - after all it's best to learn from these types of things so you can identify them in the future and gain a better appreciation for the functioning of markets, the various market participants, and of course human (crowd) psychology. See also: Dot Coms Gone Bust, What Happened (Dot Com Boom and Bust), and The Internet Money Machine.

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2013/05/dot-com-bubble-documentary.html

Wall Street Warriors S02E04

Wall Street Warriors follows the careers of a range of Wall Street professionals; across the spectrum of professions and experience levels. This is a very interesting series for those wanting to learn more about what people do on Wall Street (i.e. in the finance industry), and is must see viewing for those interested in a career in finance. This episode is from the second series of the hit Wall Street Warriors franchise.

Markets are beginning to drop and the bullish stockbroker's are feeling the pain. Brett hasn't slept in 24 hours as he prepares for a key investment meeting. Laetitia has a potentially life-changing job interview in Paris with a merchant banker. Larry plays commodities "poker" and enjoys the good-life with his family.

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2013/04/wall-street-warriors-s02e04.html

Trading Academy - Episode 4: Stocks and Shares

In the 4th week the contestants start trading individual stocks; focusing on the pairs trading technique (i.e. long one stock, short another - thereby holding a beta neutral position which gains or loses depending on the stock specific factors). For some the task of picking individual stocks becomes a bit much - with the universe of possible stocks in the thousands; whereas previously they had only a handful of instruments to trade. This episode probably mostly helps on teaching the value of focus; it's also important for emphasising the importance of developing a trading style and a trading plan. Trading strategies need to be adaptable, they need to be profitable of course, but they also need to be sustainable in that they suit the philosophy and beliefs of the trader. Watch and learn! See also: Episode 1 (meet the candidates), Episode 2 (FTSE Fundamentals), Episode 3 (Global Indices) and Million Dollar Traders (a similar apprentice-style trading competition where the aim is to train a successful hedge fund manager). Be sure to add your comments below.

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2013/04/trading-academy-episode-4-stocks-and.html

Trading Academy - Episode 3: Global Indices

In the third episode the competition is becoming stronger as the weaker traders get sent home. This week the traders focus on trading global indexes and use the 'spread betting' technique whereby you go long one related instrument e.g. one stock, and short another instrument e.g. another stock - in that example you remove market risk and retain stock specific risk. This series is an excellent way of getting up to speed with the basics of trading and also becoming aware of the pitfalls and risks as well as the challenges of mastering not only your trading system and trading style, but mastering your own trader psychology. The contestants show the learning in action, as well as getting vital tips and hints from the experts. Watch and learn! See also: Episode 1 (meet the candidates), Episode 2 (FTSE Fundamentals) and Million Dollar Traders (a similar apprentice-style trading competition where the aim is to train a successful hedge fund manager). Be sure to add your comments below.

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2013/04/trading-academy-episode-3-global-indices.html

Trading Academy - Episode 2: FTSE Fundamentals

Trading Academy is a new series from City Index that puts 8 candidates against each other and against the market in a bid to become a successful trader and take the $100,000 prize. In this episode the traders learn how to trade the FTSE 100 - a key stock index in the UK. They must learn to master their emotions while also trying to figure out a trading strategy on the fly. Each of the traders finds their own approach - some with success, some with much less success. The best lesson of this episode is about the psychological aspects; seeing in action some of the mistakes they make, and learning how to improve your own trading. See also: Episode 1 (meet the candidates) and Million Dollar Traders (a similar apprentice-style trading competition where the aim is to train a successful hedge fund manager). Be sure to add your comments below.

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2013/03/trading-academy-episode-2-ftse.html

Trading Academy - Episode 1: Meet the Candidates

Trading Academy is a new series from City Index that puts 8 candidates against each other and against the market in a bid to become a successful trader and take the $100,000 prize. In this first episode we meet the traders and get a briefing on the competition. Market analysts, Ashraf Laidi (Chief Global Strategist) and James Chen (Chief Technical Strategist) are on hand to teach the traders tips on how to read the market, how to execute trades, offer tips on trading psychology, and of course grill the losing traders on why they should stay in the competition. This is a very interesting series and offers entertainment value as well as some insights on how to succeed at trading in the markets. Highly recommended viewing. See also: Million Dollar Traders (a similar apprentice-style trading competition where the aim is to train a successful hedge fund manager). Be sure to add your comments below.

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2013/03/trading-academy-episode-1-meet.html

1929 Stock Market Crash

This documentary looks at the 1929 stock market crash and offers a glimpse into life into 1920's USA - where a new age of industrialism and a brave new world of finance saw the stock market have one of its strongest runs, and most precipitous falls. One of the most fascinating aspects of looking at past market manias such as this is the familiarity of a stock market bubble. They occur with a reasonable degree of regularity, and result in massive fortunes - rapid rises in reputation and power... and then ruin and disrepute; depending on the person, their conduct, and their luck!

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2013/02/1929-stock-market-crash.html

Traders on Wall Street

This documentary looks at the trader culture on Wall Street during the booming stock market of the early 2000's. Randall Lane founded the magazine Trader Monthly which capitalised on the stock market hype. Trader Monthly featured articles on the top 100 earners on Wall Street, the top 30 under 30, how much people had spent on business lunches, and what the best parties had been. This documentary provides an insight into the way of life on Wall Street, the traders, the investment bankers, and the spoils of success. Of course ultimately the stock market boom came to an end and party time was over, at least for a time - the next stock market boom will bring back the hot shot traders and the big bonuses and the lavish parties. Indeed later in the 2000's the credit and leverage boom brought with it another round of mega-bonuses, mega-deals, and excesses both financial and behavioral. For more on the life of Wall Street bankers and traders see: The Fabulous Life of Wall Street Brokers and the Wall Street Warriors series.

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/11/traders-on-wall-street.html

LIFFE Open Outcry Trading in the 1980's

This short documentary explains what the old LIFFE (London International Financial Futures Exchange - now a part of NYSE Euronext) was and how it worked. The LIFFE was established in 1982 at the Royal Exchange in The City of London in order to facilitate trading of currency futures and other financial derivative contracts; later expanding into a broader range of commodity futures. This documentary outlines the key players in the market, how the market operates, and why people use it e.g. for hedging or managing financial risk exposures. The documentary also provides a look back at the old mode of trading called 'open outcry' - where trading was all done by humans; whereas nowadays most stocks and futures exchanges are electronic: for more on the modernisation of financial exchanges see Floored

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/11/liffe-open-outcry-trading-in-1980s.html

Beyond the Boiler Room

In the world of global financial markets knowledge is power, and what happens when those with knowledge and without morals meet those with morals and without knowledge? The term 'boiler room' basically refers to an outbound call centre that makes many cold calls to try and push dodgy investments. The salesmen in the boiler room operations will typically use high pressure and dishonest sales tactics to push their ideas - which are often either pump and dump scams, penny stocks, private placements, or outright stock fraud. This documentary investigates one instance of a boiler room operation set up in Bangkok and run by young western expats. While decreasingly common in an age where information on the markets is easier to come by this practice still goes on, and investors need to be aware of it... if someone calls you out of the blue offering you investments, most of the time your best move is to hang up!

In July 2001, an international police squad burst into a bustling Bangkok office and arrested 80 young Western expatriates. Those arrested had allegedly been part of an illegal broking operation in which they "cold called" potential investors with lures of fast money from glamour stocks. It was a classic example of what's known as a "boiler room". We piece together the Bangkok episode and follow the money trail to discover how the global economy can produce fraud on a global scale.

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/11/beyond-boiler-room.html

Risk Takers - Michael Burry

This edition of Bloomberg's 'Risk Takers' profiles Michael Burry, founder of the Scion Capital LLC hedge fund which he ran from 2000 until 2008. Michael Burry actually started out as a medical student, but worked on his lifelong hobby of investing in the evenings; eventually he had his key moment where he decided that he would start an investment company and make money for investors by buying undervalued stocks. He was one of the few investors who predicted the housing bubble would burst as early as 2007, and he acted on his high conviction call by betting against subprime mortgages. Michael Burry was profiled in the book: The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine - by author Michael Lewis. Burry has described his "natural state" as an outsider who "just likes to find my own ideas", saying, "no matter what group I'm in or where I am, I've always felt like I'm outside the group, and I've always been analyzing the group." This documentary is well worth a look for aspiring investors and hedge funders - also see: Jack Schwager - 15 Hedge Fund Market Wizards

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/09/risk-takers-michael-burry.html

Biography - Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is the world's wealthiest investor, so a biography on this investing great should be of interest to a lot of people, but especially those who are interested in how he came to be so wealthy, his upbringing, his key choices in life, his mentors, the turning points and defining moments. This documentary takes you through his life, how he developed his value investing philosophy, how he came to be majority owner and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, his frugality, and of course his eccentricities. Definitely worth a watch for any Buffett disciple or simply for those wanting an insight into one of the world's richest individuals. See also: Warren Buffett: Going Global & Warren Buffett Revealed & The World's Greatest Money Maker: Warren Buffett

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/09/biography-warren-buffett.html

The Flash Crash

The "flash crash" was an intriguing event that occurred on May 6 2010, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged about 1000 points or approximately 9%, only to recover in minutes. Some companies dropped from a price of about $60 to like 1 cent - for no fundamental reason. The only answer was that a machine or a computer was the source of the trading, but questions remain - what went wrong? was it a rogue algorithm? was it intentional? but aside from those questions some market participants began to question the very integrity of markets now that computer and algorithmic and automatic trading has become such an endemic part of the market structure.

Among the theories to explain the flash crash are: "fat-finger" or human error, the impact of high frequency traders, large directional bets, changes in market structure, and technical glitches. While the event itself is very interesting, it is equally interesting to look at how the market is evolving, and the growing prevalence and influence of algorithmic/high frequency/quantitative/automated computer driven trading. This Dutch documentary (it is in Dutch, but the majority of speaking is in English) by Tegenlicht provides an excellent and in-depth look at the flash crash.  See also: Quants - The Alchemists Of Wall Street

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/09/the-flash-crash.html

Alexander Elder - Trading for a Living

Alexander Elder has made a name for himself as one of the most widely recognised educators of traders. He authored the books "Trading for a Living", "Come Into My Trading Room", and "Entries & Exits". In this lecture he explains some of the key insights and lessons from his book "Trading for a Living". Alexander Elder explains the importance of the 3 Ms i.e. Mind, Method, and Money. Which basically put means you need to master yourself first i.e. have discipline, avoid making the natural/common psychological mistakes that most people are wired to make. Only then should you focus on putting together a winning method which suits your style and circumstances and of course makes money. Finally the point of money is about having adequate risk management policies and procedures so that you don't blowout as a result of one or two mistakes. Well worth a watch for those considering or already trading for a living.

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/09/alexander-elder-trading-for-living.html

Rogue Trader

This is the movie "Rogue Trader" which is based on the true story of the rogue trader, Nick Leeson, who's poor trades and deceit resulted in the collapse of Barings Bank in the mid 1990's. The movie provides a dramatisation of the events and a look at the personal story of the man who brought down the bank. For clarity, a 'rogue trader' is a trader who is trading outside of their limits (usually hiding losses) and who ends up losing money for the institution at which they work; there have been recent cases of rogue traders e.g. Jerome Kerviel at Societe Generale, and Kweku Adoboli at UBS. Rogue traders often let large losses get out of control by manipulating the compliance and reporting processes. For a documentary on the case of Nick Leeson and Barings Bank, see: 25 Million Pounds

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Finance Documentaries:http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/09/rogue-trader.html

Warren Buffett: Going Global

This CNBC documentary follows Warren Buffett as he embarks on a rare overseas trip to inspect one of his latest acquisitions. Warren Buffett, the legendary billionaire investor, rarely leaves home and if he were to say the honest truth he probably doesn't like travel - he likes Omaha, and he likes his own bed. This video shows how folksy, old fashioned, and down to earth the billionaire investor is, but it also shows how he is quick to realise a good deal and his talent for allocating capital. It also shows his brilliance for identifying great companies and strong capable management teams and letting them get on with the business for him. This is exemplified in the story about how he came to acquire an 80 percent stake in Israeli company, ISCAR. Take the opportunity to watch this documentary and gain further insight into his methods and learn from the master. See also: The World's Greatest Money Maker: Warren Buffett & Warren Buffett Revealed & Biography - Warren Buffett

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/09/warren-buffett-going-global.html

1929: The Great Crash

Think the current challenging economic times are bad? Think the great financial crisis was bad? Well here's a documentary on the 1929 crash, not to make light of our present situation but this is an eye opening documentary. Over a period of 6 days in October 1929 the US stock market lost a third of its value; wiping out more than $25 billion in individual wealth (worth a bit more in those days! - after adjusting for inflation), while 3,000 banks ended up failing and wiping out investors' savings. While the literature on financial crises (e.g. "This Time Is Different ") is growing, as we understand more about the enduring effects of financial system shocks; this video provides an interesting look at one of the most significant financial crashes of our time.
See Also: The Crash of 1929

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/09/1929-great-crash.html

Money and Speed: Inside the Black Box [Trailer]

This trailer is for "Money & Speed: Inside the Black Box" - 'a thriller based on actual events that takes us to the heart of our automated financial world. Based on interviews with those directly involved and data visualization into the millisecond, it reconstructs the fastest and deepest decline of the U.S. stock market ever.'  What was the flash crash? The so-called "flash-crash" of the Dow in 2010, where it plunged 1000 points and subsequently recovered in minutes. The theories of the cause include rogue algorithmic trading engines or black boxes, human error or "fat finger", market manipulation, technical glitches, stop/loss cascading, directional bets, etc. But the consensus is that high frequency algo trading engines were behind the event, and since then there has been growing mistrust of the algos and the computer traders. See also: Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/08/money-and-speed-inside-black-box.html

Risk Takers: Meredith Whitney

Meredith Whitney is one of the most well known analysts on Wall Street. She made her name as a top female analyst who rose through the ranks and made headlines with a starkly pessimistic but accurate report on Citigroup; owing to her insights on bank exposure to the real estate market. Her latest controversial call is for a meltdown in public finances; predicting wide-scale municipal bond defaults. This Bloomberg documentary from the "Risk Takers" series profiles her career and time in the limelight. Meredith Whitney's story is an interesting one, and she should serve as an inspiration to aspiring analysts.

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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/08/risk-takers-meredith-whitney.html

Warren Buffett Revealed

If you've come to this website then you probably know who Warren Buffett is, but this Bloomberg documentary will make for fascinating viewing for both those who know all about him and those who want to know about him. As a reminder Warren Buffett is a legendary investor, and one of the wealthiest individuals in the world; with a personal fortune in the tens of billions of dollars. Buffett became interested in stocks early in his life and became a disciple of the 'father of value investing', Benjamin Graham (author of the book "Securities Analysis"). Buffett mastered the style of value investing and with instincts and gumption made a strong start, but he really took things to the next level when he orchestrated the takeover of Berkshire Hathaway; later focusing the business on insurance - allowing him access to a sizeable pool of investable assets. Truly an inspirational and fascinating individual, enjoy the video! See also: The World's Greatest Money Maker: Warren Buffett & Warren Buffett: Going Global & Biography - Warren Buffett


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Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2012/08/warren-buffett-revealed.html