BlueCrest Capital Cuts Several U.S. Stock Traders Amid Weak Performance; Speculation Turns to GoPro (GPRO) Short

BlueCrest Capital Management, one of the largest hedge funds in Europe, is laying off several U.S. stock traders and began to liquidate their investments, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal Friday.

The firm cited performance issues. "We remain very focused on performance and unfortunately we've had to make some changes in the U.S. team," said BlueCrest Chief Financial Officer Andrew Dodd in a statement to the WSJ. "However, our overall strategy remains very firmly in place and we will continue to grow the team and build the fund."

Some traders quickly speculated that the performance issues could have been tied to a short position gone bad in GoPro (NASDAQ: GPRO). GoPro is the hottest stock in the market currently, making new highs yesterday and up 240% from its late-June IPO.

was Bluecrest the Gnomes Gpro short traders?

— Jamie Lissette (@jamielissette) September 26, 2014

On Twitter yesterday, market veteran Doug Kass said "My Gnome is hearing that a small hedge fund has been obliterated by a large GPRO short and is closing up."

My Gnome is hearing that a small hedge fund has been obliterated by a large GPRO short and is closing up See my shorting tenets on RM $GPRO

— Douglas Kass (@DougKass) September 25, 2014

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