Amaranth losses not indicative

US-based hedge fund group Amaranth Advisors reportedly lost $6bn on a trade that went wrong. But Mick Gilligan, director of fund research at Killik & Co Research, said that on a percentage basis the incidence of “blow-ups” in the hedge fund world is no more commonplace than that of corporate bankruptcies. Gilligan explained that incidents such as Amaranth tend to occur in funds that engage in more esoteric trades or use high levels of leverage. This means that these funds are more likely to attract capital from institutions than from private investors. Having been in existence for more t...