Many savers invest in ETFs and ETPs via hedge funds, letting professional traders handle their exposure and risk.
John Hyland, manager of the United States Oil fund, one of the largest ETFs, said a large part of his investor base was ETF hedge funds:
"If we could go to all the broker dealers and say 'hand me the list of investors', 80 to 90 percent of our shares would probably be held by investors whose physical address is Connecticut, whose legal domicile is the Cayman Islands, and who have a Greek or Roman god in the name of the company."