Exploring the Financial Sector Through Film and Documentary

Recently, I've started working as a software engineer for a trading firm, specifically a options "market maker"¹. I'm now learning about the industry - about finance, trading and high frequency trading technology. Most of my knowledge comes from day to day work, continued onboarding and discussions with colleagues. It's fascinating. I supplement this with some books (which will be covered in another post) and films/documentaries which I'll list below. Some of the films and documentaries, I watched before I was interviewing for a trading firm; some I've watched more recently.

These documentaries are by no means a complete view of modern finance, and given the pace of technological development in trading, most information about technology is either outdated or accurate only in the sense that they give an impression of how things are built. Due to the complexity of today’s financial systems, they cannot delve deeply into all relevant aspects, but they serve as a useful and accessible introduction to the sector.

In general, quite a few of movies and documentaries about the financial sector are made either about or around the 2008 global financial crisis. There is much more to the financial system than this, but it is understandable that a lot of attention is still there.

Note that when these films and documentaries were made is important. Culturally, I suspect much of the narrative around finance remains consistent - perhaps this evolves by the decade. However, technology in the industry evolves incredibly fast and can change majorly in a few years or less. Furthermore, while watching, it is good to distinguish between trading firms that trade with a strong opinion of where the market is moving (high risk/high reward, potentially big market impact), and trading firms like market makers that focus on facilitating trades rather than speculating on price movements (low risk, minimal market impact).

Documentaries

Some of these documentaries are in Dutch - Youtube links include English subtitles

1. Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street (2010) (VPRO link / YouTube)
   This documentary explores the work of quantitative analysts who use mathematical models to understand and predict market movements, highlighting their evolving role in finance.

2. Money and Speed – Inside the Black Box (2011) (VPRO link / YouTube)
   This documentary explores high-frequency trading, the role of automated systems in modern markets and their role in the 2010 'flash crash'. It gives an idea of how speed and technology influence financial transactions (and how important software quality control is).

3. The Wall Street Code (2013) (VPRO link / YouTube)
   This documentary examines how electronic trading has transformed trading on Wall Street, focusing on the shift from human decision-making to algorithm-driven processes.

4. Inside Job (2010) (IMDb: 8.2; IMDb link)
   A detailed look at the 2008 financial crisis through interviews with industry insiders and experts. It examines the factors that contributed to the 2008 global financial crisis.

5. Planet Finance (n.d.) (YouTube)
   A YouTube playlist with a few short (10-15 min) documentaries, covering a few global finance topics. For example on market trends, the day oil prices were below zero, economic analysis, and some more.

Fiction

1. The Big Short (2015) (IMDb: 7.8; IMDb link) This film follows investors who bet against the housing market prior to the 2008 crisis, simplifying complex financial instruments and market dynamics for a broad audience.

2. Wall Street (1987) (IMDb: 7.3; IMDb link)
   A classic film that explores corporate greed and ethics through the rise of a young stockbroker under the mentorship of Gordon Gekko ("Greed is good!").

3. Margin Call (2011) (IMDb: 7.1; IMDb link)
   Set during the initial stages of the 2008 financial crisis, this film follows key personnel at an investment bank during a 24-hour period as they uncover impending disaster.

4. The Hummingbird Project (2018) (IMDb: 6.2; IMDb link)
   A dramatized story of two cousins racing to build a high-speed fiber-optic cable to gain a trading advantage. Although a very average movie, it offers some insight into competitive pressures and technological innovations in electronic trading.