Top 4 Stock Market Movies You Should Watch | Espresso

Stock Market Movies You Should Watch

If you find yourself wanting to learn about the stock market but dread the written word and verbose stock market jargon, stock market movies can come to your rescue. Stock market movies are a great way to gain insight into the world of finance yet enjoy some added drama, mystery, and theatrics.

Published on 22 March 2023

Even the best stock market movies portray a slightly exaggerated view of historical financial events like the 2008 recession in the US or the massive 1992 securities scam in India. But these movies often highlight the cons of the share market and the many loopholes and risks that make it easy to manipulate the share market for personal greed. But, on the other hand, they also teach some valuable positive lessons and leave a message of hope.

Here are four of the best stock market movies you should watch.  

  • Wall Street

Wall Street is one of the top share market movies released in 1987. It actually led to a cultural movement in school students and popularised the phrase “Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel”. Anacott Steel was a codename for a much-loved stock by one of the primary characters Gordon Gekko whose code name was Blue Horseshoe.

Gordon Gekko is a client of protagonist Bud Fox, a junior stockbroker in a firm in New York City. The movie trails the dynamic between Bud and Gekko, among other external characters. Nevertheless, it gives a glimpse into the world of insider trading and shows how excessive greed can destroy anything. The movie stars veteran Hollywood actors like Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, and Daryl Hannah.

  • The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street is one of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters. The movie stars reputed actor Leonardo DiCaprio who plays real-life stockbroker Jordan Belfort. Belfort starts as a somewhat honest stockbroker in Wall Street, New York but later goes on to engage in corruption and fraud.

His immense success was due to his aggressive yet compelling sales pitching and manipulative tactics that helped him sell securities at overpriced rates. Unfortunately, the success is temporary and leads the protagonist in a spiral of drugs and affairs. The film shows us the dark side of finance and how taking shortcuts to financial success is never a good idea.  

  • The Big Short

The Big Short is another Hollywood classic whose plot revolves around the great recession of 2008 in the United States. It sheds light on what happened behind closed boardroom doors and how few leading players in the financial world predicted the 2008 downfall due to the housing bubble crisis and other extenuating factors.

The 2008 recession was one of the worst crises to hit the US and led more than 8 million people to lose their jobs or homes. The movie covers various trading concepts like debt securities, shorting, mortgage-backed bonds, among others, through the plot and fun explanations by pop-culture personalities like Selena Gomez, Margot Robbie, and Richard Thaler.

  • The Big Bull

The Big Bull, released in 2021, is a Bollywood movie starring Abhishek Bachchan as notorious stock market manipulator Hemant Shah. The movie is based on real-life events revolving around the small-time stockbroker Harshad Mehta who was responsible for creating a false bull market leading up to the famous 1992 securities scam in India.

The scandal brought losses worth billions and showcased the loopholes of the Indian banking system. Ultimately, it led the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to introduce new rules that covered these loopholes. Harshad Mehta was eventually charged for his crimes and was on trial for nine years. The film also stars Ileana D’cruz as a justice-seeking journalist, Ram Kapoor as Harshad’s lawyer, and other prominent actors in pivotal roles.

To Conclude

Stock market movies can help you gain insight into how the financial world works. It can assist in developing a keen interest in stock market concepts and ease you into books and written pieces that provide an in-depth view of the market. The best part is that everyone – from a financial pro to a beginner can watch and enjoy these movies!

Chandresh Khona
Finoux0

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