5:41PM, Jan 09, 2009
With the world in financial meltdown how topical that a new series begins about rookie traders trying to make a buck.
Hedge funder guru Lex Van Dam (great name) invests a million pounds of his own money in eight people who dream of being traders.
The novices come from all walks of life: from a single mum of four-year-old twins, an economics student and a cage-fighting promoter to an ex-soldier who wants a new life.
The group have eight weeks to learn the ropes and then are sent off to the trading room floor. Easy. Or not, with the global markets 'plunging into the abyss' as the narrator keenly reminds us.
Before long, there's sweaty palms plus a lot of swearing and hand wringing - and that's just from Lex who's wondering what the heck he's done giving his hard-earned cash away.
Lex leaves fellow millionaire Anton Kreil to monitor their progress, but Anton admits : "Trading is an extremely psychological business and most of the time it's more of a battle with yourself rather than with the market."
There are definitely internal battles going on in a couple of the group about the ethics of some of the tactics surrounding trading. Can they put their morals aside and make some dirty lucre?
Let's hope so for Lex's sake.
Find out how Lex whittled down to the final eight with a maths test.
Find out when Million Dollar Traders is showing on TV.
