Liquidated

A lawsuit has been filed against the liquidated hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC in a federal court in New York to recover damages for allegedly perpetrating a fraud on the natural gas futures market prior to the company’s collapse in September 2006.

In three distinct selling waves, natural gas futures plummetedlower yesterday as traders liquidated long positions andestablished fresh shorts amid a bevy of bearish fundamental news.Feeding off losses incurred in the overnight session, the Februarycontract gapped down at the open Wednesday and shuffled lower tothe $7.50 level by 2 p.m. (EST).

The sell-off continued Friday at Nymex as traders liquidatedlong positions ahead of the weekend in response to some blaringtechnical factors and in anticipation of moderating temperaturesthis week in key gas consuming regions. The September contractprobed lower to finish down 2.6 cents at $2.543 Friday. Estimatedvolume of 78,445 was low relative to the preceding five-straight,100,000-plus trading sessions.