From the front page of today's Wall Street Journal comes a story on How Giant Bets on Natural Gas Sank Brash Hedge-Fund Trader (subscription required):
Of all the traders gambling big sums on energy, a 32-year-old Canadian named Brian Hunter made some of the brashest bets and the fastest money.
Last week, he fell hard, proof of how quickly fortunes can reverse in gyrating commodities markets.
Here in this bustling new energy frontier, Mr. Hunter headed the energy desk for a Connecticut hedge fund called Amaranth Advisors. At the end of August, trading natural gas, he was up approximately $2 billion for the year. Then Mr. Hunter lost roughly $5 billion, in about a week.
And you thought you had a bad week at work.
Before you feel too much empathy for Mr. Hunter you should know that:
While energy consumers have seen their bills rise, many traders' paychecks have soared. Mr. Hunter is estimated to have taken home $75 million to $100 million last year.
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