Wall Street and stock trading have been hot topics in movies and TV shows for decades. Some very notable movies have tackled these subjects head on, including very famously, Adam McKay’s The Big Short. Nominated for multiple Oscars, The Big Short was known for making the whole stock trading concept far less esoteric and unreachable than it had been in previous works. It did this by breaking the fourth wall and using other cinematic tactics to make the idea of Wall Street trading far more tangible.
The Big Short is far from the only project to depict Wall Street trading. While less about stock trading specifically, Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street takes a look at the chaos of life in the sleazy, upper end of this New York-based industry. Years before, the 1983 Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy comedy Trading Places also showed what trading looked like in that time period, before the age of electronic trading. Now, a TV series with Wall Street tie-ins gets evaluation by an expert in the field.
Industry Gets A Good Accuracy Rating
The Series Is Well-Reviewed On Max
Industry is given a good review by a former Wall Street trader. Unlike something like Trading Places, Industry gives a more modern look at the financial world, chronicling the experience of bankers and traders in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Industry features a leading cast including Myha’la, Marisa Abela, Ken Leung, Conor MacNeill, and David Jonsson. The series has had three completed seasons so far and has had strong reviews throughout, getting an average of a 90% Tomatometer across the series.
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In an interview with Insider, former Wall Street trader Jared Dillian breaks down Industry‘s accuracy. Dillian did take issue with the way that Harper’s internship is portrayed, but other than that, he had a lot of good things to say about Industry. One section in particular where Harper decides how much risk to assume and “initially it goes her way” is what Dillian found to be “the most realistic part of it.” Ultimately, he rated Industry a 9 out of 10 in terms of accuracy. Check out the full quote from Dillian below:
Booked a trade incorrectly. Sterling instead of dollars or the other way around. Middle office people generally don’t yell at sales and trading people. I’ve never seen that before. They’re usually more deferential. Ultimately it’s not the middle office person’s problem that something’s been booked, it’s the person on the trading floor. Harper is an intern in this clip. As an interns, she would typically be sitting in a folding chair next to the desk watching somebody execute a trade.
She say ‘it’ll come back.’ Which is, in trading, you never want to say ‘it’ll come back.’ Cause it’s not gonna come back. I think the most realistic part of it was she has this risk, and she decides to hold onto it through the payroll number. And initially it goes her way. And she fails to take profits, and then it reverses when the customer is buying dollars. I mean to me, from a trading standpoint, like that was the most realistic part of it.
It is very common for a large trade, for multiple people to be looped in. I remember when I was a leman, there was a very big client that wanted to do a large ETF trade. And I eventually executed the trade, but there was the head of derivatives, there was the head of someday in fixed income, there was all these people around my desk, it was just like that scene.
What she offered was you can put us at risk for some of it, and we’ll work the rest on an agency basis, which is what he agreed to. Which is pretty common in the equities world. You know, that you at least back 15 years ago, when people were doing a lot of block trading, you would do a block trade of 500,000 shares. And then you would have another 500,000 shares where you’d work the balance. Like, that’s very common. I would give it a 9. Like I’ve never seen a movie or a TV show have a Bloomberg screen where you’re seeing something move in real time. You see the P&L go up and down, and the character’s reaction. That was terrific, so I gave it a 9.
Our Take On Industry’s Accuracy
Industry Succeeds As A Modern-Day Trading Show
Part of what makes Industry‘s trading accuracy so fascinating is that it was able to do so in the modern era. Later in the video, Dillian discusses Trading Places, which includes in-person, open outcry trading. The landscape depicted in Industry is far different from something like Trading Places, so for it still to be highly accurate, and compelling to watch, is a notable feat. In this context, it is no wonder that Industry‘s reviews are so positive.
Source: Insider / YouTube
Industry
8/10
- Release Date
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November 9, 2020