List of Trading Losses over $100 million
List of trading losses
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The following contains a list of trading losses of the equivalent of USD100 million or higher. Due to the secretive nature of many hedge funds and fund managers, some notable losses may never be reported to the public. The list is ordered by the real amount lost, starting with the greatest. This list includes both fraudulent and non-fraudulent losses.

# Nominal Amount Lost USD FX Rate at time of loss USD Equivalent at time of loss USD Inflation since loss until 2007-12-31[1] Real Amount Lost Country Company Source of Loss Year Person(s) associated with incident
1 Approx. USD 50 bn 1 USD 50 bn 0% USD ? bn United States Madoff Securities [2] Ponzi Scheme 2008 Bernard Madoff
2 EUR 4.9 bn 1.45 USD 7.1 bn 0% USD 7.1 bn France Société Générale[3] European Index Futures 2008 Jérôme Kerviel
3 USD 6.5 bn 1 USD 6.5 bn 3% USD 6.7 bn Canada Amaranth Advisors[4] Gas Futures 2006 Brian Hunter
4 USD 4.6 bn 1 USD 4.6 bn 27% USD 5.85 bn United States Long Term Capital Management[5] Interest Rate and Equity Derivatives 1998 John Meriwether
5 JPY 285 bn 109.5 USD 2.6 bn 32% USD 3.44 bn Japan Sumitomo Corporation[6] Copper Futures 1996 Yasuo Hamanaka
6 USD 1.7 bn[7] 1 USD 1.7 bn 40% USD 2.38 bn United States Orange County[8] Interest Rate Derivatives 1994 Robert Citron
7 BRL 4.62 Bn 2.20 USD 2.1 Bn ; 0% USD 2.1 bn Brazil Aracruz[9] FX Options 2008 Isac Zaguri, Rafael Sotero
8 EUR 1.4 bn 1.25 USD 1.9 bn 3% USD 1.97 bn Austria BAWAG[10] Foreign Exchange Trading 2000 Wolfgang Flöttl, Helmut Elsner[11]
9 DEM 2.63 bn 0.52 USD 1.38 bn 43% USD 1.96 bn Germany Metallgesellschaft[12] Oil Futures 1993 Heinz Schimmelbusch[13]
10 HKD 14.7 bn 7.76 USD 1.9 bn 0% USD 1.9 bn China CITIC Pacific[14] Foreign Exchange Trading 2008
11 GBP 827 mio 1.6 USD 1.323 bn 36% USD 1.8 bn United Kingdom Barings Bank[15] Nikkei Futures 1995 Nick Leeson
12 JPY 103.4 bn 94 USD 1.1 bn 36% USD 1.5 bn Japan Daiwa Bank[16] Bonds 1995 Toshihide Iguchi
13 EUR 0.75 bn 1.30 USD 0.975 bn 0% USD 0.975 France Caisse d'Epargne [17] Derivatives 2008 Boris Picano-Nacci
14 EUR 0.60 bn USD 0.82 bn Germany WestLB [18] Common and Preferred Shares 2007 Friedhelm Breuers[19]
15 USD 0.69 bn United States AIB/Allfirst[20] Foreign Exchange Options 2002 John Rusnak
16 GBP 0.4 bn USD 0.7 bn United Kingdom Morgan Grenfell[21] Shares 1997 Peter Young
17 USD 0.6 bn United States Askin Capital Management[22] Mortgage-Backed Securities 1994 David Askin
18 USD 0.55 bn China China Aviation Oil (Singapore)[23] Oil Futures and Options 2004 Chen Jiulin
19 BRL 760 mio 1.85 USD 411 mio Brazil Sadia[24] FX and Credit Options 2008 Adriano Ferreira, Álvaro Ballejo
20 CHF 0.63 bn USD 0.5 bn United Bank of Switzerland[25] Equity Derivatives 1998 Ramy Goldstein
21 USD 0.4 bn United States Manhattan Investment Fund[26] Short IT stocks during the internet bubble 2000 Michael Berger
22 EUR 0.30 bn USD 0.4 bn Austria Hypo Group Alpe Adria[27] Foreign Exchange Trading 2004
23 EUR 0.30 bn USD 0.4 bn Dexia Bank[28] Corporate Bonds 2001
24 DEM 0.47 bn USD 0.36 bn Germany Herstatt Bank[29] Foreign Exchange Trading 1974 Dany Dattel
25 USD 0.35 bn United States Kidder Peabody[30] Government Bonds 1994 Joseph Jett
26 USD 0.35 bn United States Calyon[31] Credit Derivatives 2007 Richard "Chip" Bierbaum
27 AUD 0.36 bn USD 0.28 bn Australia National Australia Bank[32] Foreign Exchange Trading 2004 Luke Duffy
28 USD 0.28 bn United States State of West Virginia[33] Fixed Income and Interest Rate Derivatives 1987 A. James Manchin
29 USD 0.2 bn China State Reserves Bureau[34] Copper Futures 2005 Liu Qibing[35]
30 USD 0.28 bn United States Merrill Lynch[36] Mortgages (IOs and POs) Trading 1987 Howard A. Rubin
31 USD 0.16 bn United States Procter & Gamble[37] Interest Rate Derivatives 1994 Raymond Mains
32 GBP 90 mio USD 0.2 bn United Kingdom NatWest[38] Interest Rate Options 1997 Kyriacos Papouis
33 USD 0.14 bn United States MF Global[39] Wheat Futures 2008 Evan Dooley
34 USD 0.11 bn United States Cuyahoga County, Ohio[40] Leveraged Fixed Income 1994
35 SEK 630 mio USD 0.1 bn Sweden Carnegie Investment Bank[41] Equity Derivatives 2007 Aleksandar Adamovic
36 USD 0.1 bn Croatia Riječka banka (Rijeka Bank)[42] Foreign Exchange Trading 2002 Eduard Nodilo
[edit]See also

Rogue trader
Derivative (finance)
[edit]References

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^ New York Times, April 5, 1996
^ International Harald Tribune, August 10, 2007
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^ "Brazil Stocks Tumble After Aracruz, Sadia Post Currency Losses ", Gazeta Mercantil, 26 September 2008
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^ Rogue Wheat Trader Blamed for $141 Million Loss, NYTimes.com, 2006-02-28. Retrieved 2008-03-03
^ Significant Losses Stemming from the Termination of Its SAFE Investment Program Erode County's Previously Substantial Financial Margins, Business Wire, Jan 5, 1995. Retrieved 2008-03-22
^ Carnegie's board ordered to resign, Financial Times, 2007-09-28
^ Croat trader puts bank in £70m crisis, Daily Telegraph, 2003-03-24. Retrieved 2008-01-24
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