A pair of high-frequency traders go up against their old boss in an effort to make millions in a fiber-optic cable deal.
In this modern epic, Kim Nguyen exposes the ruthless edge of our increasingly digital world. Cousins from New York, Vincent (Eisenberg) and Anton (Skarsgård) are players in the high-stakes game of High Frequency Trading, where winning is measured in milliseconds. Their dream? To build a fiber-optic cable straight between Kansas and New Jersey, making them millions. But nothing is straightforward for this flawed pair. Anton is the brains, Vincent is the hustler, and together they push each other and everyone around them to breaking point on their quixotic adventure. Constantly breathing down their necks is their old boss Eva Torres (Hayek) a powerful, intoxicating and manipulative trader who will stop at nothing to come between them and beat them at their own game. No matter what the cost, Vincent and Anton are determined to cut through America, only to find redemption at the end of their line, not through money, but through family and reconnecting to the land.
In this modern epic, Kim Nguyen exposes the ruthless edge of our increasingly digital world. Cousins from New York, Vincent (Jesse Eisenberg) and Anton (Alexander Skarsgård) are players in the high-stakes game of High-Frequency Trading, where winning is measured in milliseconds. Their dream? To build a straight fiber-optic cable line between Kansas and New Jersey, making them millions. But nothing is straightforward for this flawed pair. Anton is the brains, Vincent is the hustler, and together they push each other and everyone around them to the breaking point with their quixotic adventure. Constantly breathing down their necks is their old boss Eva Torres (Salma Hayek), a powerful, intoxicating and manipulative trader who will stop at nothing to come between them and beat them at their own game.—Pierre Even
It's late 2011. After securing financing from venture capitalist Bryan Taylor, cousins Vincent Zaleski and Anton Zaleski quietly hand in their resignations at New York City based Torres and Thatcher Corp. - where Vincent worked as a high frequency trader and Anton being one on the coding team - to embark on the top secret project of laying a 4" diameter fiber optic cable in as straight a line underground from the Kansas Electronic Exchange Data Center to the New York Stock Exchange servers in New Jersey to increase the electronic trading speed down to at least 16 milliseconds, 1 millisecond faster than that currently exists, which would allow them proverbially, as Vincent puts it, to win the lottery even before the numbers are drawn. In the partnership, Vincent is the wheeler-dealer who requires anyone associated with the project to sign a legal non-disclosure agreement, while milquetoast Anton, who had to be be convinced to give up a steady job especially in light of needing to support a family, is the coding genius. Beyond their now former boss, cutthroat Eva Torres, becoming their competitor, one other reason for not telling her about the project is that she would probably consider much of the existing coding that Anton would be using as proprietary to the company, while Vincent would argue that it is Anton's intellectual property as the person who wrote it in the first place. Beyond some of the more obvious hurdles they potentially facing coming to fruition, one of the biggest arguably is Eva finding out, she who will do anything to ruin the cousins for abandoning her. Within this scenario, the project takes on a different meaning for each of Vincent and Anton as it progresses, Vincent who receives some personal news which taints the need for expediency, and Anton who is made aware of other aspects of the consequences of what they are doing.—Huggo
Two cousins working at a High Frequency Trading (HFT) firm decide to set up their own HFT operation. To help their venture succeed they embark on an incredibly ambitious plan: to build a high-speed cable from Kansas City to New York. If the arduousness and practical difficulties of building the cable aren't already enough, their former employer is determined to wreck their project.—grantss
Outdoors in New York City, Vincent Zaleski pitches his idea to investor Bryan Taylor. A major facility called KAX is located in Kansas, and people who want to trade stocks quickly could do so if an underground fiber optic line was built from there to New York City. To have the maximum advantage, the line would have to be absolutely straight, which would mean going through obstacles.
In 2011, Vincent's cousin Anton is a programmer at Torres & Thatcher.
At a restaurant, Vincent and Anton meet with Mark, who can build the fiber optic line.
Vincent and Anton and Anton's family get together with the family for a meal. Vincent makes suggestions to his plumber father about how to do his job better, and Anton's young daughter sings while Vincent plays the piano.
Anton and another employee at their firm have a meeting with boss Eva Torres about a plan for microwave towers, which will accomplish the same thing as the fiber optic line. Vincent and Anton realize their plan will quickly become obsolete but if they finish quickly enough they can still make money. Nevertheless, they have their first meeting together with Bryan, who is assured the plan will work.
Mark and Vincent go to KAX and start trying to get permission from landowners. The man across the street is reluctant but eventually agrees to let the line cross his land.
Vincent and Anton quit their jobs but Eva warns them that Anton cannot use proprietary information he got from working for her when he starts another job.
Crews are hired, and the audience sees but does not really hear a number of brief scenes. Work begins at multiple locations.
A headquarters is established and Anton's job is to shorten the time required for transactions from 17 to 16 milliseconds. This causes him a lot of stress and he keeps getting criticized even though he has to work very hard to get few results. As Anton later explains in a bar, the goal is for transactions to take place in the time it takes a hummingbird to flap its wings once. While this advantage will make them millions, Anton is asked what about those doing the hard work for those whose companies are making money from stock trading. Toward the end of the movie, Anton is more aware of these people.
Eva has Vincent and Anton followed, and her detective is eventually able to take photos of a meeting. The photos show so much detail of maps that Eva is able to figure out exactly what they are doing and plan to stop them and do something better.
Vincent gets sick, believing he ate something that didn't agree with him. In fact he has stomach cancer. He asks what will happen if he delays treatment because he can't afford to take any time off from the project. He is warned he is risking his life, and the best he can hope for if he gets treatment right away is a 50 percent chance of survival. Vincent keeps silent about his health and continues his work.
One obstacle after another gets in the way. One crew quits after someone offers them more money. While the head of the crew refuses to say who, it is clear Eva found out and is trying to sabotage the work.
Eva eventually discovers a paper written by NYU student Jimmy Tran which will help her get the advantage.
While visiting one of the work sites, Vincent tells one of the people he is working with about how his father came to United States from Russia and was detained and interrogated because he was believed to be a spy.
Nearly a year has passed since work began. Work continues in a very difficult section of the Appalachian Mountains. Any effort to go around the mountains will just slow down the transactions, so the crews continue to do the work at all costs. This includes getting permission to do the work in a park. When equipment breaks and Vincent is out of money, he must go back to Bryan and convince him to spend more money. Bryan agrees and work resumes.
After numerous telephone conversations with representatives of companies selling equipment necessary to make the fiber optic line work, Anton has an idea that will finally reach the goal he is seeking. It is not a software solution, but optimistic predictions of the performance of the hardware.
However, Eva visits Anton to warn him what happened to someone else who used software developed for her firm. She asks Anton how old his daughters are and how old they will be when he gets out of prison.
The next obstacle is getting across Amish land. The Amish will not allow modern technology on what they believe is God's land and they insist that the crew go around.
Worse yet, Vincent sees a tower that went up very quickly. What he doesn't realize yet is that it is one of many towers (the audience sees many of them in a short time), and he climbs a hill with a chain saw intending to cut it down. He passes out before he is able to do anything and ends up in the hospital. Eva's project is ready to go and will immediately make the fiber optic line obsolete.
Mark gets in a dispute with the Amish when he says he doesn't need their permission as long as he goes underground by 100 feet.
Eventually, the FBI arrests Anton on charges that he believes won't hold up. On a call home from jail, Anton is able to introduce a delay into transactions Eva's company is making. They can't fix the problem without Anton providing a solution, which he does, and Anton is freed.
Bryan is angry about losing so much money and believes he will lose his company as well. Vincent had insurance in case of problems such as those he had, but the insurance company won't pay.
Out of the hospital, Vincent is recovering at Anton's house and the girls are excited about the possibility of going out with him for ice cream.
Vincent and Anton visit the Amish again. Before joining the others they have a conversation about the significance of life. It is raining and the Amish are loading moving bags into a barn. Both men help but Vincent tires quickly. Vincent tells the elder he has given up on his plan. The elder shows compassion when he realizes how sick Vincent is.
