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Home > Programs > FAQ > Trading Places
Trading Places . . .
Hollywood meets the real world
When people find out that we trade commodities they inevitably ask if we trade Pork Bellies. This is always followed with a grin and the statement "you know from that movie Trading Places." Well interestingly enough at Chart Research we monitor Lean Hogs and Live Cattle but sadly we don't trade Pork Bellies. Since Trading Places, staring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy, was the first introduction to the world of commodities for a lot of people we thought that we set the story straight. Only in Hollywood could a street hustler, without a penny to his name, make a small fortune trading commodities in a few short days. In the real world it takes time, persistence, tenacity, skill, hard work and a large amount of capital to effectively trade the commodity markets. Don't let Hollywood fool you into believing that its easy. Hopefully having made our point, it's time for a little fun and humor. The movie clip below provides the answer to "exactly what are commodities?"
 Movie Clip
Sceen Errors
We have also compiled a few trade related scene errors* found in the movie. See if you can spot them next time you watch the classic movie Trading Places.
| Scene Topic/Time |
Scene Description and Error |
Topic: April Wheat.
Time: Near the middle. | When Valentine (Eddie Murphy) and the Dukes (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) are dining at a fancy restaurant with the president of the commodity exchange, he asks Murphy if he should go long "April Wheat". Murphy shouldn't think much of it considering it doesn't exist! Wheat futures trade in March, May, July, September and December contracts, but have never traded in an April contract. |
Topic: No trading on holidays.
Time: 3/4 of the way through |
In order to get to the Commodities Exchange, Winthorpe (Aykroyd), Valentine (Murphy), and the gang took the New Year's Special train to New York. Therefore, they would've arrived in New York on New Year's day. However, New Year's day is a legal holiday, and the Commodities Exchange would therefore be closed (yet we see them trading at the exchange that day). |
| Topic: Silent trading floor should stay silent.
Time: ~10 minutes to the end. |
When we see the shot down on the trading floor, just before the opening buzzer, everyone is waiting in silence. Next we see the Duke's private box, they open the windows and we hear a lot of noise and commotion coming from the trading floor. This is all well and good but in the next shot, we cut to the SILENT trading floor again. |
Topic: Can't trade without a license.
Time: ~10 minutes to the end |
At the end of the movie, Winthorpe (Dan Aykroyd) and Valentine (Eddie Murphy) are on the floor of the commodities exchange trading O.J. futures. Eddie Murphy was portrayed as a street hustler, with no education, so he certainly didn't have a license to be on the floor of the exchange and trade. |
| Topic: Limit on orange juice trading.
Time: ~10 minutes to the end. |
When Winthorpe (Dan Aykroyd) and Valentine (Eddie Murphy) are trading on the floor of the New York Coffee and Sugar Exchange, they watch O.J. change in price by over one dollar. The daily limit for this commodity is five cents. The price cannot move this much in one day. |
Synopsis
In this screwball comedy of manners, millionaire commodity brokers Randolph and Mortimer Duke (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) wager a bet that pits environment vs. biology and turns the lives of their two unsuspecting victims upside down. Eddie Murphy costars as Billy Ray Valentine, a streetwise hustler who gets dragged off the street and into the proper life of top Duke Bros. broker Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd), who in turn gets tossed out of his posh townhouse and onto the mean city streets. The comic team of Murphy and Aykroyd is deliriously funny as they both struggle to comprehend their new lives. Billy Ray is forced to learn proper etiquette, manners, and business sense while uptight Louis scrambles to make it on the streets, befriending a prostitute (Jamie Lee Curtis) who takes him in and saves him from starvation -- or worse. When the two innocent victims realize the scheming brothers' plot, they unite and devise a fabulous revenge to prove that their lives can't be controlled by the power-grubbing Duke brothers.
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