What's missing from this explanation is how open outcry trading works. If the "sell 30 April at 142" instruction is barely heard correctly, how would other traders be sure of what they heard and react accordingly? It seems like a messy trading environment where mistakes could easily be made. What do they do to prevent these mistakes and to prevent traders from reneging on the trades? Do they have a ticker tape? Do they have employees who would record all transactions on the ticker tape? How do they go from verbal instructions to a verified record?
Amazing movie though. I just wish I had more context to understand the scene fully.
I’ve worked in trading for some time now (on the tech nerd side) and can still remember my jaw dropping when I learned that FCOJ is actually traded and wasn’t made up for the movie.
My father was a trader on the floor of the CME in Chicago for a short bit (mid to late 90s), and Trading Places was provided as required reading before he taught me how to trade commodities. Great film. I have the VHS copy somewhere for sentimental reasons.
Why you can’t trade onions futures is also a fun read, for similar reasons (“The Great Onion Corner”).
That's funny, that in 2010 the Commodity Futures Trading Commission specifically banned the insider trade that bankrupted the Duke Brothers at the end of Trading Places!
Here's a direct link to the testimony mentioned in the Wall Street Journal:
Even if the trading itself wasn't illegal, it had to be illegal to steal a government economic data report prior to its release, right? I mean, if you stole the monthly Non-Farm Payroll report and knew its contents ahead of its release, you could easily make millions of dollars. There is a reason it is released at a specific, scheduled time.
What's missing from this explanation is how open outcry trading works. If the "sell 30 April at 142" instruction is barely heard correctly, how would other traders be sure of what they heard and react accordingly? It seems like a messy trading environment where mistakes could easily be made. What do they do to prevent these mistakes and to prevent traders from reneging on the trades? Do they have a ticker tape? Do they have employees who would record all transactions on the ticker tape? How do they go from verbal instructions to a verified record?
Amazing movie though. I just wish I had more context to understand the scene fully.
There was a system of hand signals to back up the communication. The movie didn't really show that.
Here's how they did it in Chicago at the Commodities Exchange:
https://youtu.be/yd31eEEWOoc
One of my favorite scenes in Ferris Bueller
I’ve worked in trading for some time now (on the tech nerd side) and can still remember my jaw dropping when I learned that FCOJ is actually traded and wasn’t made up for the movie.
My father was a trader on the floor of the CME in Chicago for a short bit (mid to late 90s), and Trading Places was provided as required reading before he taught me how to trade commodities. Great film. I have the VHS copy somewhere for sentimental reasons.
Why you can’t trade onions futures is also a fun read, for similar reasons (“The Great Onion Corner”).
https://www.npr.org/2015/10/22/450769853/the-great-onion-cor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Kosuga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_Futures_Act
https://youtu.be/9wSQ9Zk_9gQ?si=LIymSh4sGl2jehYo great video on orange juice concentrate futures
That's funny, that in 2010 the Commodity Futures Trading Commission specifically banned the insider trade that bankrupted the Duke Brothers at the end of Trading Places!
Here's a direct link to the testimony mentioned in the Wall Street Journal:
https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opagensler-...
Referenced in the doc as “the Eddie Murphy rule”.
Even if the trading itself wasn't illegal, it had to be illegal to steal a government economic data report prior to its release, right? I mean, if you stole the monthly Non-Farm Payroll report and knew its contents ahead of its release, you could easily make millions of dollars. There is a reason it is released at a specific, scheduled time.