20 Must Watch Films about Stock Traders and Financial Markets

We believe that you will not only have a good time watching these films about trading and financial markets. You will learn a lot of new and useful things from it.

1. Rogue Trader (1999)

Summary: A dynamic version of “Wall Street”.
Plot: the film is based on the real story of Nick Leeson (played by Ewan McGregor), a trader of the Barings bank.

2. Trading Places (1983)

Summary: The funniest story about Wall Street.
Plot: What can be more fun than listening to Eddie Murphy’s ideas about the futures and the market?

3. Barbarians At The Gate (1993)

Summary: The book and the film are classic.
Plot: Buying out the RJR Nabisco on the loan funds.

4. Wall Street (1987)

Summary: The classic film about Wall Street.
Plot: First, Oliver Stone (the director of the movie) planned to reveal the greed of Wall Street in the 1980th. He couldn’t even imagine that the film would become a masterpiece in the financial sphere. Gordon Gekko (by Michael Douglas), the main character of the film, was partly drawn from Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky and became the darling of the people.

5. Money Never Sleeps (2010)

Summary: The follow-up of the classic movie by Oliver Stone
Plot: Gordon Gekko has served time for securities fraud. He teams up with the future son-in-law Jacob, trying to repair his relationship with his daughter Winnie. At the same time, Gekko helps Jacob to take revenge on the man who has bankrupted his mentor’s company.

6. Boiler Room (2000)

Summary: If you have ever been doing some telemarketing or sales, you know this stuff.
Plot: Vin Diesel and Giovanni Ribisi are playing the dishonest Long Island brokers. Ribisi’s character feels almost the same as Jordan Belfort does, though he doesn’t have no yachts or drugs.

7. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Summary: «The banks are weak? You are weak!” by Alec Baldwin.
Plot: Glengarry Glen Ross has left the Wall Street but keeps fighting for the precious customers who want to buy the land. His company receives more and more offers but only the best players will get the prize. Competition comes to the boil. Alec Baldwin has only 10 minutes of the movie time but the speech he has given is worth the Oscar.

8. Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room (2005)

Summary: One of the best documentary movie of all time.
Plot: the story of the rise and fall of the Enron Corp. You will see interviews with the managers, analytics, reporters and the governor of California Gray Davis.

9. Trader (1987)

Summary: It is great!.. if you manage to find the film.
Plot: It is a little known documentary film with Paul Tudor Jones is one of the main roles. It is a living chronicle of the active investor. Jones uses technical methods such as chart analysis and predicts collapse on Black Monday.

10. American Psycho (2000)

Summary: You will never treat the visit cards the way you did before.
Plot: Patrick Bateman (by Christian Bale) is the proof Wall Street going gradually insane.

11. Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)

Summary: The film shows the life of different social groups in New York.
Plot: The film is based on the book by Tom Wolfe, which describes the life of the Manhattan elite of the 1980th. The protagonist (by Tom Hanks) cheats on his wife, which leads to a tragic murder.

12. Quants: The Alchemists Of Wall Street (2010)

Summary: The film may help you to understand how the way of thinking of the mathematician geniuses who create financial models and promotes rises and falls of Wall Street.
Plot: This 45-minutes film is dedicated to the Wall Street analytics work.

13. Too Big To Fail (2011)

Summary: Of course, you remember the financial crisis…
Plot: The Lehman Brothers has gone bankrupt, the financial market is under the risk, and the Washington guys have to make decisions to save the economy.

14. Margin Call (2011)

Summary: JC Chengdu, the director of the film, got the idea of making a film about one of the American banks being almost bankrupt. The whole film describes 24 hours, during which the employees are trying to find a way to save the situation.
Plot: A bank employee creates an analytical model that predicts the upcoming bankruptcy. However, he doesn’t tell his colleagues about this since he gets fired. He gives this information to a junior employee of the bank.

15. Cosmopolis (2012)

Summary: You will have to think hard to describe the movie with one phrase.
Plot: Eric Packer, a billionaire investor, travels around Manhattan in his limousine-office. During one day, you will get to know his wife, mistress and colleagues. After the currency speculation is revealed, Parker’s life has changed. The murder comes with it…

16. The Pit (2010)

Summary: A bit pessimistic vision of the work of the trading platform.
Plot: The trading pros are discussing their careers and retirement.

17. Arbitrage (2012)

Summary: A meaningful position can be not so meaningful.
Plot: Richard Gere plays the role of Robert Miller, the troubled hedge fund manager who is trying to sell his empire until no one figured out facts on the ground. One day he accidentally falls asleep at the wheel and his mistress dies in a car accident. Miller shoots Niagara to hide it…

18. Wolf Of Wall Street (2013)

Summary: This is the “dirtiest” film about Wall Street.
Plot: The film is based on the memoirs written by Jordan Belfort. He founded one of the largest brokerage offices in 1987 but was convicted of money laundering and several other financial crimes ten years later. Belfort managed to cope with alcohol and drug addiction that he got during his fraud on Wall Street, and wrote two books. Now he gives lectures on how to achieve success. Leonardo DiCaprio has played the main role in the film directed by Martin Scorsese.

19. The Associate (1996)

Summary: The film touches upon the gender and race issues on Wall Street.
Plot: Whoopi Goldberg is an associate in an investment company. However, despite her professional qualities, no one takes her seriously since she is “black”. However, people listen to her advice on the phone as they do not see her personally. Therefore, she decides to establish her own company and makes up Robert Cutty, the unreal “white” partner.

20. Other People’s Money (1991)

Summary: A romantic comedy about the raider.
Plot: Lawrence Garfield (by Danny De Vito) is the raider, who is trying to buy a small troubled company from Rhode Island. The CEO of the company hires his adopted daughter as the lawyer and Garfield falls in love with her.

21. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

Summary: The timeless classics that warms the cockles of our hearts.
Plot: The guardian angel shows the businessman George Bailey what life would be if he hadn’t existed.