For investors, the growth of the ETF industry has certainly been a blessing. Aside from accessing equities and bonds for dirt cheap, regular retail investors now have the opportunity to gain access to strategies that were once either too expensive or hard to reach. Historically, alternative assets have been very costly and almost impossible for the little guy to gain exposure to. With the ETF boom still going strong, new products have allowed individual retail investors the ability to access hedge funds, long-short strategies, 130/30 tactics and other areas of the market previously off-limits. Anyone with a brokerage account can now channel their own inner hedge fund manager [Download How To Pick The Right ETF Every Time]. One of more interesting opportunities for retail investors than can be tapped via exchange-traded funds lies within the absolute return strategy of merger arbitrage. Merger Arbitrage 101 At its core, merger arbitrage–sometimes called risk arbitrage–is [...] Click here to read the original article on ETFdb.com. Related Posts: ProShares Launches Hedge Fund Replication ETF (HDG) Credit Suisse Adds Leveraged Merger Arb ETN (CSMB) When ETNs Are Better Than ETFs Using ETFs To Access Alternatives ETF Pipeline Grows: More Hedge Fund Products, VIX ETNs In The Works