Product Details

• Directors: Jon Else
• Format: Color, Full Screen, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• VHS Release Date: June 1, 2001
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 1559746521
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #312,755 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

BOOKLIST

...a rapidly paced, fascinating program for business students and other money-minded viewers.

Product Description

A fascinating look at the high-speed, high-power trading floor of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Director Jon Else explores this hectic, noisy, seemingly chaotic workplace with his signature style -- eschewing narration in favor of long, real-time shots that bring the viewer right into the heart-stopping action of the trading floor. He reveals the traders' sudden wealth, sudden disaster, and grace under pressure as they exchange billions of dollars in futures and options contracts - for cattle, pork bellies, Eurodollars and the Nasdaq-100 futures. Also revealed is the endangerment of the open outcry trading system as the digital revolution replaces it at many of the world's financial exchanges. The film exposes nervous young clerks as they learn the open outcry system, its seemingly senseless language and hand signals. Traders ruminate on social values, market volatility and greed. One trader reminds us that commodities trading is not a pursuit for cold-hearted capitalists but, as we see in the film, for people with a gambler's heart and a gambler's nerves of steel: "Remember, when people hear about all the money commodity traders make, for every one guy that's made a fortune, I guarantee you that there are five guys that are driving cabs." Else's film captures the exhilarating, heart-stopping volatility that makes the Merc one of the most fascinating spots on the global financial map.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Inside View of the Pits, February 14, 2005

By 

John Forman "Author -The Essentials of Trading" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Open Outcry [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If you want to get an up-close look at the goings on in the futures markets, this video is definitely worth picking up. It takes you right down in to the middle of the action with some outstanding interviews and comments from traders of all kinds of markets, from commodities to fixed income to stock indices. The participants really give one a nice picture of how the markets operate. You may even recognize one or more of the faces from your viewing of CNBC.