S2E8 "Jerusalem" | How Soros Broke the Bank of England & What It Has to Do with "Industry" (and the Trump Administration)

In this episode, we break down the finance behind the Industry Season 2 finale—and without exaggerating, this might be our favorite episode yet. There was so much to dig into, starting with the trade that the whole season built toward: Jesse Bloom’s long Rican / short FastAid position.

We unpack the insider trading angle, including whether what Jesse did was in fact insider trading. We get into the ethics behind Harper finding out that the anti-competition inquiry into Amazon’s acquisition of FastAid has been quietly dropped and shares it with Jesse — and then whether what Jesse does with that information is in fact insider trading since he didn't trade on that information itself but rather went on TV to will the inquiry back into existance (while simultaneously adding to his Rican position).  

Because the episode references the legendary trade where “Soros broke the Bank of England” in 1992, we also break down that wild real-life story—something anyone aspiring to work on Wall Street should know. That leads us into a deeper discussion on how hedge funds can move markets, the mechanics of currency pegs, central bank credibility, and how macro traders think about asymmetric risk. The real shocker is WHO the brains behind that trade were because it's someone that all us in the US are VERY familiar with these days... and no it's not Soros.

Finally, we look at how all of this plays out across the show's main characters: Harper’s decision leads to her firing, Yasmin is blindsided by Celeste, Gus gets caught in the fallout, and Rishi and DVD’s team pitch to Nomura doesn’t go as planned. We explore how team dynamics, sales credits, and firm reputation impact career progression on the sell side—and how optionality (or the lack of it) drives every character’s choices in the final moments of the season.

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