Top 7 Finance Movies You Should Watch | Wall Street Movies

The world of finance has always made for exciting movies. From dramatic moments to funny twists, these films offer a mix of success, failure, and life lessons.

Most finance movies show the highs and lows of financial professionals, often focusing on greed, risks, and big decisions. These stories, filled with intense moments, are entertaining and offer valuable insights, especially for anyone interested in or working in the financial world.

Here are 10 must-watch finance and Wall Street movies, picked for their compelling stories and connections to real-life events.

Key Takeaways

• Learning about finance through books and movies can help investors understand financial products, services, and professionals better.
• Wall Street movies are a great way to understand the finance world, especially for those interested in working in the industry.
• Many finance movies are both fun and educational to watch.
• “The Big Short” is based on the true story of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, from the best-selling book by financial journalist Michael Lewis.
• “Margin Call” focuses on a big Wall Street investment bank during the early days of the 2007-2008 financial crisis and its possible collapse.

1. Wall Street (1987)

One must-watch finance movie for professionals is the classic Wall Street by Oliver Stone. This film inspired many college graduates to quote the famous line, “Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel,” as they prepared for their Series 7 exams.

Originally made to highlight the excess and greed in the finance world, Wall Street still serves as a powerful recruitment tool for traders, brokers, analysts, and bankers, even after nearly 30 years.

While the movie warns about the dangers of insider trading, let’s be honest—who wouldn’t want to be like Bud Fox or even Gordon Gekko, embracing their greedy side? After all, it was Gekko who famously said, “Greed is good.”

A young, impatient stockbroker is determined to reach the top, even if it means using illegal inside information from a ruthless corporate raider who mentors him.

• Director: Oliver Stone
• Stars: Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Tamara Tunie

2. Margin Call (2011)

“Margin Call” is one of the most accurate financial films, set within 24 hours at a Wall Street firm on the edge of collapse (inspired by major banks).

The film doesn’t shy away from criticizing the reckless risks taken by large banks leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. It focuses on the trading of complex derivatives, which even the banks themselves barely understood.

A memorable scene shows two key characters discussing the impending disaster that will affect not just their firm, but the entire financial community, while a janitor stands nearby, unaware of the chaos unfolding. The story follows key players at an investment bank during the early days of the 2008 crisis.

• Director: J.C. Chandor
• Stars: Zachary Quinto, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Spacey

Also See: Top 5 Insurance Plans in Delhi 2025

3. Boiler Room (2000)

While “Barbarians at the Gate” is set in a glamorous corporate boardroom, “Boiler Room” shows the darker side of finance, focusing on the shady world of pump-and-dump schemes.

A pump-and-dump scheme happens when dishonest firms artificially inflate the price of a stock by spreading false or misleading information. They then sell their own shares, leaving investors with worthless stocks.

Though “Boiler Room” is fictional, pump-and-dump scams are real and can cause serious harm to those affected.

This movie is a warning for new investors to stick to transparent, trustworthy companies and invest with solid research. The movie teaches the important lesson: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” The story follows a college dropout who wants to impress his father and takes a job at a suburban investment firm, but soon discovers that the job may not be as legitimate as it seemed.

• Director: Ben Younger
• Stars: Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long

4. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

This movie, directed by Martin Scorsese, tells the true story of Jordan Belfort, a famous stock scammer. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill give standout performances.

“The Wolf of Wall Street” is based on real events and focuses on Stratton Oakmont, a brokerage firm known for its illegal pump-and-dump scheme. This scheme helped launch the IPOs of several large companies in the late 1980s and 1990s. The film follows Jordan Belfort’s journey from a rich stockbroker living an extravagant lifestyle to his downfall involving crime, corruption, and the government.

• Director: Martin Scorsese
• Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie

5. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)

The documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room tells the shocking story of Enron, a company that seemed successful but was actually built on lies and scams.

Based on the best-selling book, the film uses video footage, interviews, and testimony from people like whistleblower Sherron Watkins to show how Enron was a scam from the start. One of the most shocking parts of the film reveals how Enron traders caused the California energy crisis of 2001 by manipulating the power supply to drive up electricity prices.

• Director: Alex Gibney
• Stars: John Beard, Tim Belden, Barbara Boxer

6. Rogue Trader (1999)

This movie is based on the true story of Nick Leeson, a trader who caused the collapse of Barings Bank, the world’s second-oldest merchant bank.

Leeson quickly rose to fame as a trader on the Singapore trading floor but fell just as fast when he hid huge losses from his bosses in secret accounts. His risky trade on the Nikkei stock market led to a huge financial disaster.

While the movie is entertaining, Leeson’s story offers a powerful lesson in risk management and financial oversight. It’s the story of an ambitious broker who singlehandedly brought down one of the oldest and most important banks in Britain.

• Director: James Dearden
• Stars: Ewan McGregor, Anna Friel, Cristian Solimeno

7. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

“Glengarry Glen Ross” is a well-known movie based on a play by David Mamet. It focuses on a group of tired real estate salesmen who have lost their morals after years of working for a dishonest company.

The film highlights the greed and shady tactics that people in financial sales may face. It also shows the constant pressure on salespeople to meet sales targets set by their bosses.

While the entire cast is excellent, Alec Baldwin’s motivational speech is the standout moment, revealing the highs and lows of working in the financial world under intense pressure.

• Director: James Foley
• Stars: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin

What Are Some Other Finance Movies?

If you’re interested in exploring more finance movies, you can check out “Working Girl” (1987) with Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, and Sigourney Weaver; “Bonfire of the Vanities” (1990), based on Tom Wolfe’s book, starring Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks, and Melanie Griffith; and “Arbitrage” (2012), featuring Richard Gere.

For more information about finance-related topics or insurance plans, visit My Insurance Dost.

Are There Any Movies About Bitcoin?

Yes, there are a few movies, though most are documentaries. You can watch “Crypto” (2019), a crime thriller about money laundering with cryptocurrency. Also, keep an eye out for upcoming movies about FTX, starting with one based on the book Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis (author of The Big Short and Moneyball), which tells the story of Sam Bankman-Fried.