Dan Aykroyd Explains the End of `Trading Places' 

Yeah, I was wondering that myself. But a year later, Eddie Murphy wears long pants, and a letterman's jacket in Beverly Hills California, and it doens't look like winter.

Because they are both so *cool*, that they can *BE* in sweaters in the tropics. That was how I viewed it (even as a kid in the 80s) when I first saw it, lol.

LivingInVancouverBC It WAS just after New Year's if you recall. It can get pretty chilly then even in the Carib.

LivingInVancouverBC I wish that in that shot of Louis in the tropics, we see on his wrist the watch he had hocked earlier. Shows he bought it back.

That would have been a good scene to show, with Louis saying to Bo: "In Philadelphia...fifty bucks."

Dukes were trying to corner the market with the false OJ report which described a bad crop. Our hero’s knew the real report was unremarkable with no sign of supply failure. They thus waited for the price to go up and then sold short at the higher price. They would buy later to cover their position at a much lower price, thus earning the price/cost difference.

Spot on, well said!

I sti don't get the 'selling shorts' part. What were they selling?

@@5r3t5n0m Future OJ contracts. Markets are organised to allow you to sell something without owning it, much like credit allows you to buy something using money you don't own. In effect, you borrow the item so you can sell it, and close the position later by buying it back. You're betting on the price falling in the meantime.

@@lucasgroves137 gotcha. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks

Yes one of the best EVER!

Akeem just had to be played by Eddie Murphy too

@@projectjt3149 he wrote the movies

That has happened in more than one move that Eddie has starred in. In Life w/ Martin Lawrence he ( Eddie) gets into a fight w/ the big guy about the cornbread and tells him he knows a old lady named Della that hits harder than that, reference to Della Reese's character in Harlem Knights when he & she fought in the alley.

We’re back! LMAO

Lol 😅

Very fun scene for sure!!!! for those paying attention.

The part where he was homeless in a Santa Clause suit on a subway was hilarious.

"this is a $5000 custom timepiece that tells time simultaneously in NY, London and Gssssstaaaad". ; Bo Diddley: " in philadelphia, I'll give you fifty dollars."

Wonder if you'd say the same thing today? LOL

@@rstefanie2622 that’s very funny! Lol!

it was a very nice pair... yes sir!

@@rstefanie2622 she is likely still impressive; but aged.

@@rstefanie2622 I don’t mind a little hang time

I read somewhere that the only actors on the market floor were Aykroyd, Murphy, and the guy that was supposed to buy OJ for the Dukes. Everyone else were real floor traders and were told to act and do whatever they would act and do normally on the floor once Aykroyd's character yelled out "sell", and after hearing the crop report.

+FMHammyJ I often sing the little greeting chant they do together on the train.. it perks me up and saves me from apocalyptic tendencies

+FMHammyJ LIONELL!!!!

+66ott7 Mbullay mbullay mubullay ha!.....Mbullay, Mbullay, Mbullay ha!.hahaha....:)

FMHammyJ It cracks me up too because I'm Cameroonian myself and my Parents love Eddie Murphy.

FMHammyJ "Merry New Year. Happy... In this country, we say happy. Thank you for correcting my English that stinks. ." hehehe LR

You ain’t gonna jacuzzi nobody!

Agree, and Paul Gleason is in both of them.

For me its the best new years movie.

John Landis said it is NOT a Christmas movie just a movie that happens to take place at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.

Yea!

The movie carefully left out some information for a couple of reasons. First, that scene was based on a real event, an attempt by brothers Nelson & Bunker Hunt to corner the silver market (which failed.) Second, the producers were worried if they spelled out precisely how Ackroyd & Murphy manipulated the market for their scheme to work, the producers could then be sued if anyone else attempted the same strategy. A reasonable concern, especially given the advanced in technology that would make it easier later.

Same. One of my fave movies ever.

"Delicious Beard Salmon" - awesome! Thank you for making my NYE even better.

TheKersey475 that wouldve been amazing

Every dealer knows you don't consume your own product.

Rhythmicons 😉

Interestingly..this line almost didn’t happen. Don Ameche as Randolph, refused to utter that Fbomb, as he was against ever using such a word. He was talked into it by the Director, and there you go...an iconic movie line that almost didn’t happen!

@@GogglzPisano I believe he told Landis that he'd only say it once and that they didn't print that take, too bad.

YOU & YOUR NOBEL PRIZE, YOU IDIOT !!!

@@GogglzPisano but he had no problem using the N-word...

@@HacksignKT actually Don Amache had a MAJOR problem with saying the N word as well! Both Eddie Murphy & Dan Ackroyd has to practically beg him to say that word as well. He gave the same response; he’d say it once and no more takes. You gotta hand it to him that he had convictions about using ANY foul language.

No Question!

I don't think Dan gets enough credit for his work in this movie.

+00bikeboy or Dr. Detroit lolllll

***** thats what im talkin bout

And tearing into it on the Bus...grossing out the lady passengers....;-)

According to Eddie Murphy they re-did this in about 16 takes until they got his look right

PRICELESS!! NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY INTO THE CAMERA. LOL

What's a sandwich ?

Best thing in the whole movie!

He looked into the camera in an earlier scene.

@Too Wun Even he would have told Harris what Biden should have told her:"Kamala,you ignorant slut."

He is Canadian...lol

@@carsonagenic6285 Well let's just say that when I look into his eyes, Mister, I get a different message and we''ll leave it at that.

the dukes were buying concentrate since the bogus weather report said frost damaged the crop thereby fresh orange juice was going to be in short supply.

definatly enough to buy a private island!

Adjusting for inflation that 1 dollar circa 1983 would be worth 2.78 today in 2021. So a little over $69 1/2 million between the Dan and Eddie's characters. Not bad.

What was even more shocking was the amount the Dukes lost. $394 millions dollars in 1983 is worth over $1.1 billion today!

Eh, I almost forgot about that... "Mortimer, we're back".. Very funny.

That was a nice touch

I saw Coming to America in the theaters before I ever saw Trading Places. When Akeem gave them the money, and Randolph gave that line, the whole theater was roaring with laughter. I had no idea what was going on!

Also Jamie Lee Curtis and Denholm Elliot got plenty. I think they both gave Louis all their liquid assets.

Leave me alone Mortimer! I'm still not talking to you!

What happened was insider trading but Dan and Eddie gave them the wrong information it was something about the orange crops so they thought the price of the stock would go up but it didnt

@@rbeck3200tb40 They were not trading stock. They were trading futures. A totally different animal. Commodities trading is different. And anyone who does not understand how this works is probably a MAGAtard® since the Duke brothers explained it in layman's terms to Eddie Murphy.

@@downtownbillyandthenewjivefive False. They explained the basics to Eddie Murphy's character, not the complexities on how commodities trading really works. The commodities market as you correctly pointed out is not for the faint of heart. Political affiliation has no bearing on how much someone understands the complexities of commodities trading. If you are going to act arrogant and talk down to people, it would behoove you to be bright and knowledgeable yourself.

Essentially, the way a short sale works in this film is that you can sell stocks (futures, in this case,) even if you don't actually have them. As long as you have them by the end of trading, it's legal (of course, if you don't you have to buy them at the current price, whatever that is.) The deal is for contracts, not cash, when you're selling. As long you provide the number of contracts you said you would, legally, the price you bought them at doesn't matter. So essentially the protagonists, when they sell the OJ futures at 142 get a promise from all the buyers (that they cannot break, it's legally binding,) that they will buy those contracts for that price. When the price drops as a result of selling, desperate traders who have those futures are trying to get rid of them to minimize their losses. The protagonists then buy the futures they need to fulfill the sales they made at 29, meaning they keep the difference since all they have to provide at the end of the day is the contracts they sold. They're paid by the buyers and use the money to pay for the contracts THEY bought, then give them to the people they sold them to. Since they got more money for the sales than they had to spend buying back the contracts, they make a large amount of money. The Dukes, on the other hand, expected the price of OJ would go up due to the false information they got. They bought the shares on margin (essentially, a one day loan from the stock exchange due at the end of trading) since they didn't actually have the money on hand or in assets to pay for the number of contracts they wanted to buy. Since the contracts they have bought cost much more than the current price to sell (and the protagonists refused to buy from the Dukes) all they have are contracts that don't meet the amount of cash they owe due to buying on margin. Therefore, since their debt is due and payable immediately, the exchange orders all their assets seized to pay the debt they owe (and likely sues them or seizes whatever property the put up as collateral) to pay the rest of the debt, ruining them financially. Their seats on the board are just more assets the exchange can sell to raise the money, so they lose those as well, as well as all the current stock holdings they have to be sold to pay the debt, and their stock brokerage firm is also seized to pay the debts.

@@kettch777 thank you! This makes perfect sense how you explained it. They sold at 142 and bought at 29 keeping the 113 as profit, as the Dukes had to pay the difference per contract.

Haavaad.

Evil guys were Dan’s character’s bosses and mentors, and he was their golden boy. One day they decide to bet a dollar that they could bankrupt him and put a black homeless man on the exchange, teach him the same things, and make him rich. This scheme was their revenge on the Dukes

@@thepunditspundit1776 Ah. Thanks! So the bosses treated him like his life was just a plaything, right? And that's why he's mad? Were the bosses betting that Dan wasn't special (i.e., that any homeless person could do his job)? Or were they betting that it took brains and skill to do his job? Who exactly were the Dukes betting with? And Eddie was the homeless man, right? And was Dan and Eddie's ultimate triumph evidence that it indeed took skill and brains to do Dan's job? Or the opposite?

@@KidFreshie it was a bet between the duke brothers. One thought the homeless guy could do the job, the other didn’t think he could. Homeless guy overheard one paying the other the one dollar in the bathroom after homeless guy was crushing the job.

@@pwilliam255 OK thanks! So they essentially ruined Dan Aykroyd's life for a dollar?

@@KidFreshie exactly. That’s why the homeless character turns on them and help Louie get revenge and his money back. The homeless guy had more character than the 2 wealthy titans. That’s the moral of the story.

Nino Don I think what he's saying is... 142 means 142 points, not Dollars. so they're selling 200 units, or contracts, for 142 points. If 1 point is $150, then he's selling one unit for $21,300. They then have to buy the units that they just sold, which they do after the price drops 110 points. Net profit before taxes would be $16,500 per unit, and based solely on the only discernible lines we hear in the movie, 16,500 * 200 units = $3.3 Million before taxes in 1983. Or $8,268,355.42 today. However, because of the chaos of the trading floor, their profits could be significantly more.

200 contracts per each trade. And they wrote hundreds of tickets in that scene. The implication is that they are on the other side of the $394M that the Dukes owed.

@boss dawg 142 means $1.42 per pound. One contract is for 15000 pounds. So if OJ went from 142 down to 32 they made $1.10 cents a pound X 15000 pounds = $16,500 per contract X 200 contracts = $3,300,000 on that ONE trade and they made MULTIPLE trades, They would need $1300 margin for each contract so $260,000 margin to cover that trade.

The margin call for the Dukes was $330 million. I imagine that Winthorpe and Valentine made something close to that on the positive side.

That is in reality what they are. They are making money on predictions just like bookies are in races and sports events.

Exactly

Late January morning. It does get cool.

That's fine for explaining the sweater. Not for explaining the bikini. They are dressed differently for the same weather conditions.

Who really wants to see dan and Eddie in bikinis anyway?

That sounds hot!

Yeah and how can they hear each other? ! From boat to beach....no way!

That's spelled "hell".

they were the homeless 2 that he gave cash to in Coming To America

They're Back

The Limo driver from Trading Places is also the Limo driver at the end of Coming to America.

That was the joy of watching director John Landis intertwining characters from 2 of his movies. How cool would it have been to even see a character from Animal House make a cameo appearance! Lol

it made no sense to me until I learned about "shorting" a stock.

100% correct....I worked in the bond pit at the Chicago Board Of Trade....so I know your spot on...

Exactly.

They didn't have to compete with the Dukes' money. They just had to trick the Dukes into buying huge into something that was about to crash.

Exactly, the goal was to bankrupted the Dukes which they did, not only did not have the cash to cover their loses but under federal law, there assists would be taken to cover the remaining debt.

Caesar Seriona *Assets ?

Not anyone, Bloomberg.

Because most people don’t understand markets - never mind shorting -

Hi I just wanted to thank you again for being so supportive and following me on my journey. I love inspiring and encouraging others. People like you help me to keep showing up! Hope you are having an amazing day!!

Dr detriot

How is it overlooked?

Buddy Comedy? It's brilliant satire

Andy Golay not necessarily. The prices were for futures contracts, which basically a hedge on what they think the price will be. Let’s say you have item X and it is worth $0.25 today. I think X will be worth $10.00 this time next year. You think it’ll go up in value too, but say only to a $1.50. Maybe you even think it’ll go down in value. So I come to you and buy a contract saying “l, slowpoke will buy X from you Andy precisely a year from now for $2.00...” you’re like cool, this idiot is gonna give me 2 bucks for X that only costed me a quarter, and for sure won’t be worth 2 dollars. Now a year comes. The price of X is what I thought it would be, $10.00. I still get to buy the X from u at the agreed price of 2 bucks, then I turn around and sell it for 10, and pocket an 8 buck profit. That’s what the duke brothers were expecting to happen, based on the report they read. Back to our example though, let’s look at the flip side. After a year, you were right, and X is only worth $0.10. But I still have to pay you the agreed upon $2.00. So now you’re up $1.75 and I am left with X, only worth $0.10. So I actually lost $1.90. But the kicker is, that $2.00 I paid you was from what’s called a margin account I had with the exchange. Margin is like credit or a loan. The $2.00 you got paid were from the exchange, and now I owe that $2.00 to the exchange when they “call” for it. If I can’t pay them the 2 bucks in cash when they make that call (the margin call), they automatically have the right to seize or garnish 2 bucks worth of anything I own of value, be it a house, car, jewelry, or for 2 bucks, a cheeseburger. Now, multiply that 2 bucks by about 150 million, and shrink the year down to about 3 minutes. That’s what happened to the dukes basically. Take the $1.75 you made from the price of X tanking and multiply that by the same 150 million. That’s what happened to Luis and billy Ray.

slowpoke96z28 most helpful explanation Ive read..

@@slowpoke96Z28 30 years after first seeing this film, FINALLY someone explains it in plain English! I think most non-financial types are thrown by Aykroyd's 'buy low, sell high' mantra which most people understand.

They are buying and selling orange juice futures contracts or OJ. One contract is for 15000 pounds of frozen concentrated orange juice. Right now it is selling for $1 to $1.30 a pound so one contract is worth $15000 to $19500. But you don't have to put up that much, margin is $1300 a contract with gains or losses settled at the end of the day. The Dukes thought the price was going up so they bought hundreds of contracts at higher and higher prices. Winthrop and Billy Ray waited until the price hit the peak then they sold short that means they sold contracts. When the crop report came out the price dropped like a rock. Winthrop and Billy Ray bought back the contracts they sold for cheap, making a huge profit, while the Dukes were stuck with hundreds of overpriced contracts and a loss of millions of dollars.

No, the fake report that was handed to the duke brothers said that the frozen concentrated orange juice was going to go down because of the cold winter, however, because they played a prank/bet on both Winthorpe and Valentine, they (W & V) decided to play their game and when it hit 142 ($142 a stock), both of them started selling hard and fast, hitting a curveball on the duke brothers, however, when it hit $0.42, that's when they bought the stocks for basically peanuts (something like 5c a share) and managed to put the dukes out of business/bankrupting them and becoming rich themselves, then made sure to gloat that it was a bet to see which one out of the two were going to put the two duke brothers in the poor house before the others and it was Valentine because Valentine got two more buys before everyone finished for the day, making it twenty (the guy holding his hand up in the "5" meaning 500 shares) whereas Louis Winthrope III only got eighteen and thus Valentine won a dollar.

The report said that the supply would go down. That would mean the price would go up.

@@GenGamesUniverse Cold weather or frost in Florida can ruin the orange crop, causing a shortage and sending the price sky high. This actually happens every few years, the OJ price reacts to weather reports sometimes violently. A crop report can have similar effects, in this case, made worse by the actions of the Dukes and those who tried to copy their trade.

Hi I just wanted to thank you again for being so supportive and following me on my journey. I love inspiring and encouraging others. People like you help me to keep showing up! Hope you are having an amazing day!

The jail scene: 'I'm a Chain-Belt Kung-Fu, Bruce Lee was my teacher". LOL

+Joanne Allard He didn't "miss" it. He just wouldn't say something so stupid.

+Jason Rogers I have to agree - I have no idea what, if anything, I was thinking when I wrote that!

+Joanne Allard oh wait - it was supposed to sound like 'commodity' crossed with 'comedy'. If he'd said it, I'm sure it would've sounded much more worthy...

lol

He is a Canadian

(cuts to Winthorpe cleaning shotgun)

You can't go around shooting people in the kneecaps! XD

Dancing Candle it's assault with a deadly weapon. You get 25 years to life for that.

Dancing Candle so was I

Geoff Williams listen do you have any better ideas

'half of it is from me'

@@ktcolo1 - "thank you, Mr Mortimer 😒"

The face he makes at the end 😂😂 such great characters

"...then I stepped on the ball...".

You see him in "The Sting." His famous line was "Who is the mark?" "Doyle Lonnigan." "Flat rate."

Jason Rogers same problem i had but my dad explained it several times to me, you need to connect informations and you get that 'click' in your head.

Jason Rogers it's pretty simple. Let me try to explain: Aykroyd and Murphy started by selling OJ futures contracts in the mid $100s, then when the report said the crop was in good condition the price of contract fell to the $20s and they bought the contract back. The difference is profit. Multiply by thousands of contracts and the money is huge.

I see. That's the simplest and easiest to understand explanation I've seen yet. Thanks.

The Dukes' agent has the fake crop report saying that the weather was bad and the harvest was less than normal. Therefore, he is expecting high prices. Valentine and Winthorpe have the real crop report and know that prices will go down when it is revealed. The agent wants to own as many contracts as possible before the crop report is revealed, since (he thinks) once it is, the price will go up and he can sell at a profit. Trading begins with a price of 102 cents per pound, which translates into $15,300 per contract. Once everyone sees that the Dukes' agent is trying to corner the market, they all want a piece of it, forcing the price up since more people are buying than selling. At a moment timed for maximum dramatic impact, Valentine and Winthorpe make their first move: "Sell 20 in April at 142!" They're selling short: selling contracts they don't yet hold. They are betting they will be able to buy the contracts later at a lower price so they come out making money but not holding any contracts at the end of trading (after all, who wants one of these babies rolling up their driveway?). Now that there is another source of contracts available, the other agents buy from Valentine and Winthorpe as fast as the duo can write the orders. This has the effect of driving the price down somewhat, since there are now more sellers than there were before; by the time everybody pauses to hear the crop report, the price is back down to 102 cents per contract (interestingly, right where it was at the start of trading). The crop report is revealed and the price starts dropping as everyone tries to get rid of their contracts ("zero their positions") before the bottom drops out or trading ends. At a moment timed for maximum dramatic impact (about 46 cents per pound), Valentine and Winthorpe make their second move. They need to buy--a lot--to zero their position, and the crowd is more than willing to oblige. An important point here is that they don't buy any from the Dukes' agent; after all, they want him to be left holding the bag at the end of trading. When that time comes, the price is 29 cents per pound, and Valentine and Winthorpe have delivered on all their short-sold contracts. Now let's generate some brown numbers. It sounds like Winthorpe says "20,000," so let's go with that as the total number of contracts they moved. Let's assume they sold short at a constant rate from the time the price was 142 until the time the price was 102. From this, we can figure an average price per contract of 122 cents per pound. Likewise, let's assume they bought at a constant rate from the time the price was 46 cents per pound until the end (29 cents per pound), which yields an average price per contract of 38 cents per pound. Profits: (122 cents/pound - 38 cents/pound) * 15000 pounds/contract * 20000 contracts = $252,000,000.00. Cha-ching! Since the Dukes' agent flamed out, he's holding a bunch of contracts at the end of trading. There's a margin call to settle the Dukes' account, and it's not too hard to see from the math above where their $394,000,000 margin call comes from.

Ahh, excellent. Thanks for that. Seriously. I now have a renewed appreciation and love for the movie now that I can follow what's going on at the end. I think it's time to watch it again...

To help with the cool island breeze, man.