''Million Dollar Traders'' is a 2009 British

reality television series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

devised by

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

manager Lex van Dam, which attempted to recreate the famous

Turtle Traders Richard J. Dennis, a commodities speculator once known as the "Prince of the Pit," was born in Chicago, in January, 1949. In the early 1970s, he borrowed $1,600 and reportedly made $350 million. When a futures trading fund under his management i ...

experiment devised by

Richard Dennis Richard J. Dennis, a commodities speculator once known as the "Prince of the Pit," was born in Chicago, in January, 1949. In the early 1970s, he borrowed $1,600 and reportedly made $350 million. When a futures trading fund under his management i ...

in the 1980s.

Background

''Million Dollar Traders'' follows a group of twelve wannabe traders dealing in shares during the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, which was then whittled down to the final eight. The contestants come from various backgrounds, including a fight promoter, a

day trader Day trading is a form of speculation in securities in which a trader buys and sells a financial instrument within the same trading day. This means that that all positions are closed before the market closes for the trading day to avoid unmanag ...

, an IT/banking recruitment consultant, a working mother, a retired IT engineer and a student, among others. During the series van Dam gave the London-based contestants the sterling equivalent of $1 million of his own money to trade for 2 months. Former professional trader Anton Kreil was appointed as the manager of the group. As with the original experiment, those who lasted the course broadly confirmed the claim that novices could become professional-level traders, making small profits or at least lower losses trading in very turbulent markets during the filming than professionals, who lost four times greater amounts over the same period.Learning to trade at the school of hard knocks ''The Financial Times'' 19 Nov 2010
/ref> The three-part

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

series, narrated by

Andrew Lincoln Andrew James Clutterbuck (born 14 September 1973), known professionally as Andrew Lincoln, is an English actor. His first major role was as the character Egg in the BBC drama '' This Life'' (1996–1997). Lincoln later portrayed Simon Casey i ...

, was a part of the "City Season" programming on the BBC. It aired on

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and d ...

in the UK at 9pm on Monday evenings between 12 and 27 January 2009.

Episode list

Contestants

References

External links

*{{BBC programme BBC Two original programming British reality television series 2009 British television series debuts 2009 British television series endings Business-related television series in the United Kingdom Stock trading television shows