Money is everywhere these days. Everyone is talking about it, everybody wants it, everybody needs it and, in the current economic climate, everybody needs to do whatever they can to make it stretch as far as possible. The perfect time then for this reality show/experiment to rear its head on the Beeb.
Trader Lex Van Dam's Theory
With the world feeling the pinch of the economic downturn Million Dollar Traders gives eight ordinary and completely different people the chance to make a lot of money on the stock market as a hedge fund. But there’s a catch as they are all beginners to the city and the money is coming from Dutch trader Lex Van Dam (great name, by the way) who has given the group one million dollars of his own money to confirm his theory that anybody who wants to can be a successful broker.
Although they were kind of thrown in the deep end each person was selected to take part based on their personality and they were given weeks of training to get a brief explanation of how the market works and how to make money.
The Episode Ended with the Group Losing £2,500
At the start each member of the group was given £25,000 to see how they invest, and to use their intuition and basic knowledge to see if they can spot a money maker.
First to break into action was IT Technician Simon, the oldest of the bunch, who threw £5,000 into British Gas but then spent the rest of the day worrying as it started to fall and by the third day lost the team £250. On the other hand former soldier Mike gambled on a chancy venture that took a week of planning that lost money but showed potential to make calculated risks.
The episode ended with the group collectively losing £2,500 within a matter of hours after a fortnight of learning the ropes and building up the pressure for them to succeed.
A Global Credit Crisis and the Worst Trading Conditions
As a TV show it’s an interesting and stripped down look at a dry subject that few people understand and others just don’t want to understand. Although it was quite hard to follow at times, as it was filmed during the global credit crisis and the worst trading conditions for a long time these people really had to work hard to get out of the red.
As a look at the morality of trading it confirms that on the whole it’s about caffeine addicts sitting and waiting for companies to lose value and stock to plummet so that they can make more of a profit once it starts to rise again. And even though it tries to focus the novice angle they don’t get an easy ride, in fact at one point he sort of boss/mentor/overlord Anton complains that some of the participants are taking a half hour lunch break. How dare they!?
Million Dollar Traders not as Human as The Apprentice
The raison d’être behind shows like this and The Apprentice is to make the business world interesting and sexy so that it appeals to the everyday viewer.
But unlike The Apprentice there’s very little humanity involved in Million Dollar Traders. Sure, you see these people occasionally on the verge of breaking down but you don’t really get to learn much about them and there’s no real competition to follow. Plus even though they get a but of hassle Lex is hardly Alan Sugar. Maybe this will change as the series continues but at the moment it’s just like sticking a camera in a dreary office and pressing record.
Million Dollar Traders is on BBC Two at 9pm on Monday and the first episode can be seen on that new fangled eye play watsit.
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