Funny Sitcom About Share Trading

Looking for something related to share trading to watch? You may be interested about Trading TV shows including the real life documentary of Wall Street Warriors: Season 1 (and Season 2), and movies such as Boiler Room and Wall Street (with Michael Douglas). I've watched all of these so I went digging for something new. I found an old episode of an American sitcom called The King Of Queens which had an episode entitled "Net Prophets" (Season 2 Episode 12 S02E12 Originally aired on 13th December 1999.). In this episode of King of Queens, Doug (Kevin James) gets a $3000 dollar christmas bonus and Carrie (Leah Remini) wants to invest it in the stock market.

It is quote hilarious for traders to watch such this episode and some may probably relate to their amateurish trading dliemmas. Watch how these two unsophisticated investors, riding on the waves of a stock tip from a friend, buy into a hot internet stock. Doug and Carrie's conversations about entering the market, arguments about "stop loss" are perfectly covered by the TV show. I loved the depiction of how Doug's emotional rollercoaster having his emotions were influenced by the stock value goes up and down. You can watch the video below.

Summary of Share Trading TV Show and the Follies of Amateur Investors (and Traders)

This episode is a great watch for stock trading beginners and goes to show what NOT to do. For example, Traders have a money management plan.

• Unsophisticated Investor/Trader Gets a Christmas Bonus
• Wife says, we should invest the cash in the stock market - every one else is doing it.
• Depositing cash is a losers game. (not)
• Friends are profiting like crazy from the stocks! "The point is the stock was at $2... now it's at $6!"
• "This is a great stock! Four analysts made it their top pick!"
• "... but my friends said..."
• (The price falls) "Let's Hold on to the stock!..." "Let's ride it out!"
• The stock falls, Doug panics and wants to exit: "Let's just sell while we can afford to go [to some tourist place]".
• Once Doug exits his stock position, he finds that the stock comes back up. And keeps going up...
• Second guessing on the decision to exit.
• Carrie: "Let's Just Forget it. You've sold the stock, and let's get on with our lives."
• Doug's gut feeling: "Let's get back in."
• Carrie: "We buy back in, but this time we leave it along... we do not obsess, we do not panic... we just leave the stock to do what its going to do."
• Stock crashes... (Let's buy more!)
• Stock plummets more - CEO had prior convictions of stock fraud.

Trading Mistakes and Lessons Depicted by Sitcom

Lessons about trading revealed by the sitcom.

• Don't get into the stock market (or any derivatives like CFDs) if you don't fully understand the risks.
• Just because you're friends are in on the action, doesn't mean you will get the same results.
• Cash in bank is a wise decision for unsophisticated investors.
• This can have many arguements: they didn't know what they were investing. (Shamini? What do they even do?) For Technical traders, some don't even care what the company does. But for most traders who take (the wiser) hybrid approach of combining technical with fundamental analysis, also consider future prospects of a company among other factors.
• "Why can't we jump on the gravy train?" "Because sometimes gravy trains derail... and there is blood and gravy everywhere!"
• Don't rely on hot stock tips from friends
• You can't time the market if you're unsophistcated (They got in on the action too late, and hesitated when exiting)
• Good trading shouldn't be a crazy emotional ride. Just like a poker player, you must keep your cool.
• Having a wild emotional ride for each trade isn't good for your physical and mental health.
• They had a trading plan concocted by Carrie - but they had no exit plan, no profit target or a stop loss.
• In the end, no one really knows what is going to happen next on the stock market. For example in the episode, the CEO was involved in criminal activity. How many investors lost from Enron? How many lost from the BP spill? How many lost money in any of the stock crashes? Understand the risks, plan safeguards to prevent or minimise the risks.

The King Of Queens - Net Prophets Season 2 Episode 12