What do you think. 10 Traders, 1 million dollar margin accounts and 10 days to win or blow out. And offer a 1-800 numbers so viewers could post money via credit card on their favorite player (to help players meet fed calls or just speculate) and collect some of the winnings if they beat, or lose if they blowout. BLOWOUT on CNBC 8/9c I think it would do well.
Neat idea about the trading part. Don't think the betting part will get through legal easily. Could do the same w/ any dollar amount really since you know it's all or nothing. Even $100k/trader in futures could get fun.
I'll be the casting director. You would have to have the "obligatory" traders from Queens, Brooklyn and Chicago, a few Irish, a few Italians, a few Jews, a few Ivy League douchebags, a few PhD quant nerds, a redneck, an East Indian, an Oriental, a retired old fart, a downsized software geek, a housewife, a Hooters Girl, some stock jockeys, some futures cowboys, a coke-bottle eyeglass wearing option trader. Mark Burnett, where are you?
They did something somewhat similar over in London: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gthhq The shows were pretty good overall.