What happens at the end of 'Trading Places'? (2013)(www.npr.org)
70 pointsby austinallegro9 months ago10 comments
  • kccqzy9 months ago
    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.

    • joezydeco9 months ago
      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

      • tomwheeler9 months ago
        These hand signals are known as arb. I was told (when I worked for a brokerage firm) that the name stems from people involved with arbitrage needing to communicate quickly, before the rest of the market caught on to what they were doing).

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_signaling_(open_outcry)

      • wildzzz9 months ago
        One of my favorite scenes in Ferris Bueller
    • vergeman9 months ago
      I attempted a little webcam machine learning video game to trade open outcry.

      Can't say it works that well but I claim side project lol.

      https://www.thepittrader.com/

  • Braxton19809 months ago
    Prince Akeem was upset that Arsenio Hall was using the royal family's money when they were supposed to be living like commoners. Out of anger he took a large wad of cash that Arsenio had on him and gave it to two homeless people who turned out to be the Duke brothers.
    • dh20229 months ago
      (for those who did not make the connection, in the movie Coming to America Eddie Murphy gave some money to two bums - the bums are the Dukes brothers who went bankrupt at the end of the movie Trading Places)
      • Braxton19809 months ago
        Since toothbrushes wear out why have a gold handle? I get that he's extremely rich but is he just putting gold in the trash?
  • allenrb9 months ago
    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.
    • toomuchtodo9 months ago
      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

      • smallmouth9 months ago
        There's a good chance I knew your father if he was active between 89' and 97'. Leased and eventually bought a seat and cleared through RJO.

        Mostly S&P 500, Pound Sterling and Live Cattle.

        And thanks for those links!

      • richardfontana9 months ago
        When I was in law school I took a class on securities regulation taught by Joel Seligman, and I remember looking at his multi-volume treatise which included a letter Gerald Ford sent him reminiscing about the Onion Futures Act.
      • konfusinomicon9 months ago
        as the last of the short orders were filed Kosuga leaned over to Siegel and whispered, "now we'll really give em something to cry about", and the rest is history
    • matthewdgreen9 months ago
      The entire concept of FCOJ grosses me out after I learned they would sometimes ship it north inside of the same tanker trucks they would use to ship chemicals down south. I hope this is regulated now.
  • nicwolff9 months ago
    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-...

    • listenallyall9 months ago
      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.
    • mikestew9 months ago
      Referenced in the doc as “the Eddie Murphy rule”.
  • gibbitz9 months ago
    https://youtu.be/9wSQ9Zk_9gQ?si=LIymSh4sGl2jehYo great video on orange juice concentrate futures
  • scarface_749 months ago
    Fun fact: Winthorpe and Valentine ended up sleeping on the street after “Trading Places” and Prince Akeem gave them money in “Coming to America”

    https://youtu.be/h0GLVc4f02k?si=VIH5-gWVnTSIXnxf

    • Vaslo9 months ago
      I thought that was actually in The Distinguished Gentleman and had to confirm but you are right. Don’t know why I misremember that.
  • spants9 months ago
    "One interesting kicker to the story: Trading commodities on inside information obtained from the government wasn't actually illegal when the movie came out, but it's illegal now. It was banned in the 2010 finance-overhaul law, under a special provision often referred to as the Eddie Murphy Rule."

    Why aren't most of the democrats in jail, then? - How did they make their fortunes on their lifetime government salaries?

    • halfmatthalfcat9 months ago
      In jail for passing legislation with a trifecta government for barring insider trading?
  • UltraSane9 months ago
    I will never understand how the hell open outcry trading ever worked. It seems like complete chaos.
  • unmole9 months ago
    > In other words, Winthorpe and Valentine have contracts allowing them to buy millions of pounds of orange juice in April for 29 cents a pound, and to sell it for $1.42 a pound.

    Yeah, no. They went short on April OJ futures when it was trading at $1.42 and closed their short when the price crashed to 29 cents.

  • 9 months ago
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