This movie is not about the details of the investments and what went wrong with them. So that would have just bogged down the movie with irrelevant data. The movie is about what people DID with what they learned about the investments and the problems with them.
I don't think mortgage-backed securities are traded like stocks. These guys weren't on a regular trading floor @ the NYSE. These are large groups of mortgages packaged as investments that are sold selectively to certain big buyers (fund managers, institutional investment managers, etc.). A regular investor can't buy them. There aren't hordes of investors who CAN buy them. They're marketed not just on a board, but also with sales calls. That's how I THINK that happens.
There are also derivative investments related to the mbs packages. Not sure how those are sold.
But all of this is irrelevant to this movie. Whereas in The Big Short, the details mattered much more, because much of the movie is the investors trying to figure out why the values of the bad investments were not going down, when they were worthless. And then letting the audience see how that happened.
Both excellent, riveting movies.

This is a well regarded movie only whined about by Wall Street types who the general public don't really give a damn about

this is one subject that is beyond them. the numbering and the schemes are too complicated to capture in a single film.
Or perhaps a little too boring to be put on film. Maybe they could make an accurate movie about financial dealings, but would that make for an interesting 2-hours experience?

I must have drunk when I posted that. I was talking about the BOOKS Too Big to Fail and the Big Short. Both much better than the movies in terms of EDUCATING non-financial people.
However, yes, the MOVIE the Big Short was also good in this regard. But the director made it more skewed than the book was.
Defender of the weak, and enemy of the weak minded.

Agree on
The Big Short
I thought that film was excellent
the coins in the jar are for charity,
the coins in the tray are for sharing

uhno. Read "Too Big Too Fail." Or the Big Short. The MBS market and related OTC derivatives markets were SUPER opaque.
Defender of the weak, and enemy of the weak minded.

geological!! nolan can't get his underwear right.
i mostly will not be able to answer your reply, since marissa mayer hacked my email, no notification