Successful Traders - John D. Arnold. Unidentified John Arnold: what secrets the greatest trader of the last decade does not disclose
) John D. Arnold - illustrative example how successful people manage to take advantage of the circumstances in time. Last year, his fortune topped $ 1 billion for the first time, making Arnold the youngest American billionaire by Forbes magazine and ranked 317th on the list of 400 richest Americans. Note, unlike the overwhelming majority of other young rich people in the ranking, Arnold did not inherit his billion, but earned it himself - by the super-successful game of Centaurus Energy on the energy market.
In the recent Forbes-2008 rating, Arnold's fortune is already estimated at $ 1.15 billion.Trader Monthly magazine estimates it even higher, at $ 1.5- $ 2 billion, noting that Arnold is today one of the highest paid hedge fund managers, overtaking this the rate of such recognized stars trading floor like Eddie Lampert and Stevie Cohen. And practically no one doubts that this year Arnold will further increase his income and the income of Centaurus investors, taking advantage of the ultra-high prices for oil, gas and other hydrocarbons.
And one more detail from the still short, but bright and eventful life of John Arnold. He is one of the few key employees of the infamous Enron Group to have escaped charge and trial for fraud. And it was the income from successful operations while working at Enron that gave rise to the billion-dollar capital of the prodigy from Houston.
The first millions
John Arnold was born into an ordinary American high-middle class family: his father was a lawyer and his mother was an accountant. The talents of the young genius showed up early enough. In just three years, he earned his degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, after which he went to make money on Wall Street in 1995. And not anywhere, but to the energy giant Enron. In this company, Arnold was first engaged in oil trading, and then, after the departure of Jeff Bussan (Jeff Bussan) was "transplanted" to the trading of natural gas. In 2001, at the age of only 27, he earned $ 750 million for Enron in gas trading. The employer did not offend the young star of the sales floor. At the end of 2001, Arnold received a bonus of $ 8 million - the largest one paid to traders Enron for that year.
The main thing is to get out in time
Arnold was extremely careful with the money. When a scandal erupted at Enron in early 2002, and within a few months the value of the shares of the seventh largest company in America fell from $ 80 billion to almost zero, Arnold was one of the first to escape from the sinking ship. And then something unexpected happened. Despite having job offers from UBS and other investment banks, he chose to open his own hedge fund, Centaurus Energy (most of his colleagues, after the collapse of Enron, settled in banks and oil companies like BP and Chevron). As start-up capital Arnold used that same $ 8 million and a small amount of money from outside investors. “I wanted to create a structure that would suit me myself, and not constantly defend my opinion in front of any bureaucracy,” Arnold himself explains his desire for independence.
As the name suggests, Centaurus Energy planned to specialize in the trading of gas, oil and other hydrocarbons. The foundation, initially occupying one tiny room, is based in Houston, Texas, the main center for oil production and trade in the United States. And, ironically, the windows of the present modest trading floor of Centaurus Energy offer a wonderful view - the very E-shaped office of Enron, where John Arnold began his career several years ago (now this office is occupied by Chevron).
It would seem that only a very stupid person in 2002 could come up with the idea to open a fund that would specialize specifically in energy assets. The US energy sector was in shock at the time from the Enron bankruptcy and the related fraud scandal. Market volatility was extremely low, which did not give traders any opportunity to earn money. This is well illustrated by the fact that in February 2002, shortly after Enron went bankrupt and its gas operations were taken over by UBS, it was not doing well. UBS began laying off traders and even shutting down its online trading platform, Enron pride. In May 2003, the Houston division was completely closed, and the few remaining traders were transferred to another office.
Small but smart
However, John Arnold managed to turn the crisis to his advantage. While other funds have been cautious in dealing with energy stocks, he has created a reputation for being a very successful trader for Centaurus. Note that during the first two years the fund was closed for third-party investments: Arnold played, as they say, "on his own." And then energy prices went up, market volatility also increased sharply, and the crisis was resolved by itself. When investment banks felt that it was possible to earn money on energy futures and began to massively hire traders to work in the oil and gas markets (Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, for example, in 2004 earned $ 2.6 billion from commodity trading, most of it from energy sources) Centaurus Energy was already one of the most adept players in this sector. “John just walked into the market and showed everyone was wrong,” says Jim Schwieger, Arnold's former Enron colleague who back in the day traded with him on a pair of gas instruments.
Today, Centaurus already manages more than $ 3 billion. John Arnold's structure includes four hedge funds: Centaurus Energy, Centaurus Energy Master Fund, Centaurus Energy Partners and Centaurus Energy Qp, as well as the consulting firm Centaurus Advisors. As is customary in the financial world, the fund is an extremely closed structure. “We do not discuss what we are doing. We do not work publicly the way Tee Boone did. ”
It is only known that for its services the fund takes from investors one and a half times more than the market average: 3% of the invested funds as a fee for capital management and 30% of the profit received. “Regular” hedge funds are capped at 2% and 20%, respectively. However, those wishing to work with Arnold, even under such predatory conditions, line up. After all, Centaurus has become one of the most successful funds in its "narrow" area, earning for depositors, according to rumors, about 200% profit every year. The only exception was the "bad" year 2005, when Centaurus Energy's profit was only 178%. These are incredible results. Energy funds such as Energy Select Spyder and Vanguard Energy Vipers, for example, showed only 35% of profit in 2005.
Arnold naturally keeps the secrets of successful trading in the complex and volatile energy market to himself. However, among his colleagues and competitors there is a skeptical opinion that rumors about Arnold's trading genius are greatly exaggerated. Allegedly, about $ 150 million of the $ 750 million he earned for Enron in 2001 should not be attributed to his talent, but exclusively to the aforementioned online trading system Enron Online. Evil trading tongues argue that the system simply dominated the gas market, allowing Enron to set prices. Arnold's other competitors vindictively remind that although he made huge profits for Enron in 2001, in 2000 he tarnished his reputation just as badly, losing more than $ 200 million.
Boy's Billions Bet
All this talk, however, did not stop Arnold from breaking the bank in the summer of 2006, leading to the collapse of his competitor, the hedge fund Amaranth. The situation developed in the following way: John Arnold and his team were confident that gas prices would decrease in summer 2006, and, accordingly, Centaurus was short. Amaranth, on the other hand, was confident that they would grow up. So Brian Hunter, a 32-year-old fund trader, was bullish. The dispute, which resembled a bet of two stubborn boys (especially considering the age of both heroes), ended in September. Within one week Amaranth lost about $ 6 billion, and Centaurus Energy ended the year with a profit of 317% and $ 1 billion in assets. Experts believed that Arnold owned about half of this money.
Narrow specialization
Despite the success of 2006 and 2007, Centaurus Energy remains extremely small in size (only 36 people work there, of which 17 are traders, half are former Enron employees) and a highly specialized fund; of those that are tacitly recommended to friends and partners as funds "for their own". In contrast to such "monsters" of the investment market, like or, the situation in Centaurus Energy is quite calm. This explains the fact that even after earning impressive bonuses at the end of a successful year, Centaurus Energy did not experience the traditional outflow of staff in such cases for hedge funds. And the staff in the fund gathered more than worthy. Arnold was able to recruit former Enron CEO Greg Whalley, as well as star traders such as Bill Perkins, Jeffrey Welch and Conrad Goerl, who previously worked at Motherrock. ...
Centaurus Energy takes its work in the energy market extremely seriously. The fund's staff even has a meteorologist's rate - a very unusual unit for players on stock market... The content of a meteorologist fully justifies itself. Long-term weather forecasts enable Centaurus to play for a decrease or increase in the price of energy carriers in certain weeks and months, in strict accordance with the received data. For example, knowing whether the weather will be warm or cold on certain days in the United States can help predict the demand (high or low) for fuel to heat homes.
Anti-market politicians
Centaurus Energy and other energy pools in the future, however, may be seriously challenged by several factors. These are not only the fall in oil and gas prices and the development of alternative energy, but also rumors about investigations that the US financial authorities are going to conduct. Their suspicions stem from the fact that hedge funds in Last year if not directly responsible for the acceleration of energy prices in the United States, then at least greatly contributed to the volatility of this market. The rise in energy prices, according to statements by Barack Obama and representatives of the US leadership, has already been recognized as a national problem and threatens the stability of the entire economy. And I must say that the suspicions of the authorities are justified. According to the NYMEX and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, hedge funds and similar structures today account for 47% of open energy futures contracts on the NYMEX, up from only 20% in 2004. However, Arnold himself denies accusations that it was hedge funds that made the energy market so volatile. “Generally speaking, the more participants there are on the market and the more liquid the tradable goods are, the less volatile the market is,” he notes.
Competition is also growing in the energy market. According to the Energy Hedge Fund Center, today at work with energy assets and companies in the field environment concentrated at least 450 hedge funds, which manage about $ 60 billion. Moreover, 200 of them work only with energy assets, that is, they are direct competitors of Centaurus Energy.
Probably, it is precisely with the increasing competition in the market that John Arnold's intention, voiced at the beginning of this summer, to "diversify" the business and move a little away from stock speculations, is connected. To this end, Centaurus, together with the Carlyle Group, has invested in its own gas storage facilities in Colorado (130 km from Denver) and Louisiana. The amount of investment, as is typical for Centaurus Energy, remained unknown, but experts say that Arnold spent an estimated $ 100 million on the project. up to $ 15, you can simply "hold" it for some time in the storages until the price rises to the optimal one.
The humble billionaire does not want to meet
O personal life John Arnold is even less known than his business. However, those rare reviews that we manage to hear mainly characterize him positively. Art Gelber, a renowned Houston-based energy consultant, claims that Arnold is "a true gentleman in many ways." They say that he is fond of art and dances well, and also that he recently got married. One thing is certain: until recently, despite his condition, the head of Centaurus Energy led a fairly simple lifestyle: he did not buy antiques and expensive cars, did not play novels with photo models, and generally tried not to attract special attention to himself.
Renowned trader and financier John Arnold was born in the United States of America in 1974. Today he is the head of Centaurus Energy Advisors, LLC.
Arnold began building his career immediately after graduating from Vanderbilde University. As a student, he mapped out his entire career. Most of the teachers saw in him not just an ambitious student, but a future talented entrepreneur.
John began his career at Enron as a trader, and a few years later he took up the oil and gas industry. He tried to learn to trade via the Internet, comprehending all the intricacies of an electronic account. In 2001, he received the $ 8 million award.
John Arnold's strong point is the strategic planning of his business. His logical thinking is well developed. He calculated all his actions several steps ahead, and this led him in most cases to winnings. The ability to earn money independently and not depend on anyone has always been a priority for John. Therefore, he walked towards his dream - to become the most successful and richest person - with great perseverance and constant meticulous work. Methodical work on oneself, self-education and obtaining new knowledge in various fields became his main goals.
John Arnold's work in companies
In 2002, Enron went bankrupt and John decided to found his own company... He calls her "Centaurus" and has a net worth of US $ 3 billion. John Arnold begins collaborating with such notable persons as Bill Perkins, Jeffrey Welch, Greg Wallay and Konrad Goerl. He was able to find himself a team of professionals who helped him to take the company to the top.
When Amaranth Advisors collapsed, Arnold decides to take a chance and issues cash on credit. But already in 2005 he gets everything with 150% revenue. It is said that his profit was 2 billion from an invested 1.5 billion.
John Arnold is one of those talented and successful businessmen who have reached unprecedented heights by the age of thirty-three. In 2007, he entered the list of the richest Americans - ranked 317th on this list. He is now recognized as the world's youngest billionaire financier. In 2008, his fortune was estimated at $ 1.5 billion.
39-year-old John Arnold, head of hedge fund Centaurus Energy, has been named the youngest American billionaire by Forbes magazine.
In 2015, on the Forbes list of billionaires, he is No. 503, in the United States No. 168 and No. 132 in the Forbes 400 in 2012. John is a young trader who trades in natural gas and oil. His Houston-based hedge fund firm, Centaurus Advisors, LLC, specializes in trading energy products.
John Douglas Arnold, born 1974 Is a billionaire trader. At 36, he became America's second youngest billionaire. He made his fortune without the help of relatives, trading in the energy market. Early in his career, Arnold successfully worked as an analyst at Enron. John Arnold is significantly different from many other wealthy young Americans. His own intelligence, intuition and talent in business helped him become a billionaire.
Arnold was born in an ordinary American family middle class: father is a lawyer, mother is an accountant. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and earned his master's degree in just 3 years. At the age of 21, the young genius has already set out to conquer Wall Street, working as a trader in the largest energy company "Enron" - the seventh largest company in America.
John began his career as a trader as an oil analyst for Enron, then was appointed an assistant trader and quickly became one of the company's “star” traders. In 1996, he earned the nickname "the king of natural gas" for his well placed bets. In his early days at Enron, Arnold made a name for himself buying gas contracts in one region and selling them in another when prices diverged. In his work, he showed himself as a talented strategist with impeccable logic and thinking of a businessman. He learned to trade via the Internet and therefore found himself at the peak of his popularity. All this, with use in trade the latest internet technology, has allowed John to achieve amazing results in his position. At the age of 27, he has already earned $ 1 billion for Enron.
In 2000, the US Congress passed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which allowed contracts involving the exchange of goods in large quantities, and led to a boom in electronic gas trading. (The law became known as the Enron Loophole, thanks to intense lobbying by the energy trading giant.) Arnold's early trading experience gave him an insight into the needs of gas customers across the country and once gave him an edge. John's virtual internet commerce skyrocketed.
On the way to Arnold's success, there were various difficulties.
So, in 2001, the Enron company was not the best of times - at first the company was charged with fraud, then its shares were completely depreciated, and the company declared itself bankrupt. Arnold commented at the time that about $ 150 million of the $ 750 million profit in 2001 was associated with his role as a market maker in gas transactions on the Enron Online internet trading platform. Many traders stated that the Enron Online platform was powerful enough for Enron to set its own market prices... Anticipating a sad scenario, John was one of the first to leave Enron and, moreover, helped earn his company $ 1 billion in trading profits. And for this, in the same year, he received an award - $ 8 million. He was 26 years old.
Due to the wrong actions of the management, in 2002 the Enron company ceased to exist. And John decided it was time to create something of his own. He managed to keep the money he earned and, after the collapse of Enron, opened his own hedge fund specializing in energy trading. This is how the company "Centaurus Energy" was born, whose activities are aimed at generating and supplying electricity to customers, trading in oil and gas. Her authorized capital in 2002 it was estimated at over three billion dollars. The fund is located in Houston, Texas - the main center of oil production and oil trade in the United States, and originally fit in just one small room.
For about 2 years, Arnold traded only on own funds when the crisis passed and energy prices soared again, Arnold's hedge fund performed well. Such results are one of best traders John Arnold achieved through his tenacity and ambition, becoming a role model for millions of traders around the world.
When Arnold, 31, created Centaurus in 2002, with $ 8 million of his own money, the energy trading industry was on its knees, incapacitated by fraud and irrational exuberance at Enron. Since then, the hedge fund Centaurus has raised a $ 1.5 billion investment to manage and hired great traders like Greg Valley, former president of Enron.
Volatile energy markets and record commodity prices have sparked a new wave of interest from investors looking to profit from the sector. This interest has pushed banks and a growing number of hedge funds to hire more traders and quantitative minds to keep raising their rates on prices and energy. In Houston, New York and London, a battle for the best trading talent ensued that reminded of the trading frenzy of the late 1990s.
According to John himself, the discovery own structure was dictated by the fact that he was tired of constantly defending his opinion "before any bureaucracy" and wanted to create a company that would suit him. The desire for independence is certainly commendable, but at the time, in 2002, the state of the American energy sector, in connection with the Enron scandal, was close to crisis. Extremely low market volatility did not give traders the opportunity to earn money, and against this background, the opening of a fund specializing in energy assets seemed more than untimely.
However, for John Arnold's business, a state of shock American market energy resources did not play any negative role. On the contrary, while others were cautious, he worked actively, and after 2 years, practically without third-party investments, he managed to confirm his reputation as a successful trader. “He just entered the market and showed that everyone was wrong,” his colleagues said of John. As a result, when the period of stagnation has passed and energy prices have moved up, the hedge fund "Centaurus Energy" has already firmly held one of the leading positions in this market.
Today the structure of J. Arnold includes 4 hedge funds (“Centaurus Energy”, “Centaurus Energy Master Fund”, “Centaurus Energy Partners” and “Centaurus Energy Qp”) and the consulting firm “Centaurus Advisors”. Despite the relatively high cost services (3% of the allocated funds as a payment for capital management and 30% of the earned profit versus 2% and 20%, respectively, on the market average), J. Arnold has no shortage of clients. Those wishing to invest, on the contrary, line up, since Centaurus Energy is one of the most successful funds in its sector and, according to statistics, earns about 200% of profit for its investors annually. The only exception was 2005, when the fund showed a profit of “only” 178% (for comparison, the profit of competitors' energy funds in the same year was about 35%).
Another famous example of Centaurus Energy's victory over competitors is the famous gas deal in the summer of 2006. At this time, Arnold predicted a decline in gas prices, while his rival hedge fund Amaranth was expecting an increase. In September 2006. The bet was completed by an unconditional victory of J. Arnold: Centaurus Energy ended the year with a profit of more than 300%, having in its assets $ 1 billion, and the Amaranth fund lost about $ 6 billion. Ironically, at that time both John Arnold and Brian Hunter, a trader at Amaranth, was only 32 years old. It is no coincidence that this deal was called "a clash of two boys juggling with billions."
Successful trading made Arnold's hedge fund a leader in its field: Centaurus Energy currently manages more than $ 3 billion. Despite the scale and scale of profits, the hedge fund remains a relatively small structure to this day in terms of the number of employees. It is known that a little more than 30 people work there, half of whom are traders, and about half of them are former Enron employees. These are more than worthy representatives of the trading fraternity, including the former CEO of Enron, Greg Whalley. Coincidence or not, the windows of the Centaurus Energy trading floor now face the street where the E-shaped office of Enron is located, where John worked at the beginning of his trading career.
“Centaurus Energy” is an extremely closed non-public structure that keeps its developments secret. This is a highly specialized fund "for friends", recommended mainly to partners, friends and relatives. “We are not working publicly,” says John Arnold himself about his foundation. Opening the veil of mystery, let's say that in hedge fund Jonah has her own meteorologist. His responsibilities include building long-term forecasts weather forecasting to predict fuel demand for home heating. It is also known that Arnold is taking steps to diversify his business: together with the Carlyle Group, he owns gas storage facilities in Colorado and Louisiana.
As for the personal life of John Arnold, it is known that he is married and has three small children. His hobbies are culture, art, design. Perhaps the only act of John Arnold that caused a public discussion was the purchase land plot, v prestigious area Houston, worth about $ 5 million.Becoming the full owner, John did not reconstruct on the site an old house built in 1926, which, according to the inhabitants of patriarchal Houston, has historical value, but decided to demolish it and build a new, modern and functional mansion in its place.
This act fully reflects the character and style of thinking of John. Independence in views and judgments, a penchant for innovation, orientation to one's own intuition and courage in actions - all this undoubtedly helped John Arnold to conquer this very difficult volatile energy market and reach unprecedented heights at such a young age.
About financial analyst Meredith Whitney, who was not afraid to predict the bankruptcy of companies, read the article Versions of Meredith Whitney - America's financial analyst on our portal of the book of traders' lives.
In short, he is one of the youngest billionaires, he made his first billion at 33 and is one of the most successful traders in the world. Arnold may not be the richest man, even by US standards, but he earned his entire fortune completely from scratch and in a very short time. Today John runs his own energy hedge fund. Centaurus Energy.
As for the biography of Arnold ( John D. Arnold), then of course you can find it, there is even an article on Wikipedia, but most of them are very short, and many contain only fragmentary information, and the article on Wikipedia is generally only in English.
We decided to simplify the task and collect as much data as possible about this outstanding person.
Biography
The future trading genius was born in the USA, in the Texas city of Dallas in 1974. Arnold was born into a middle-class family, and by no means hereditary billionaires or businessmen, as someone might think ( father was a lawyer and mother was a simple accountant). Father died when John was 17 years old.
Almost nothing is known about the earliest years and childhood of our hero, but it doesn't matter, because his abilities really began to manifest themselves only in middle and senior school age, which made it possible not only to enter Vanderbilt University located in Nashville, but graduate and get a degree in just 3 years.
Even during their studies, teachers began to notice the student's pronounced entrepreneurial inclinations. It was with graduation from the university that John began to rise up the career ladder.
Carier start. Enron
The direct practice of trading on the exchange for John Douglas Arnold began only in 1995 when, after graduating from Vanderbilt, in the footsteps of his older brother, John Douglas took a job at the age of only 21 as a simple trader in an energy corporation Enron.
His focus on the Wall Street corporation was in the gas and oil industries.
At that time, the trader used the most modern tools commerce such as the Internet and algorithmic trading.
- In the 90s, this approach was not so widespread, but the effectiveness of the set of measures gave excellent results.
At first, Arnold traded only in oil, then when he left the company Jeff Bussan- the specialist in charge of gas transactions, he began to trade in gas as well. The management pays attention to their brilliant employee, and John gets a managerial position, which allows him to bring even more income to the company.
Early 2000s, Enron is the seventh largest energy corporation in the United States with many employees, branches and high turnover, but the trouble comes unnoticed, and in 2001, at the peak of its power, it suddenly opens up andthe scandal with the hiding of colossal losses through offshores in order to deceive investors and present the position of the fund in a more favorable light than it really was, is beginning to gradually gain momentum.
But in the same 2001, John Arnold was doing fine, only this one year, he earned for the company $ 750 million, 8 of which the management listed him personally as a prize ( which was also a record amount of remuneration for employees at Enron). In total, during his work in the corporation, he provided more $ 1 billion in profit.
Even Arnold's successful activities could not save the company from imminent bankruptcy, which followed by the end of the year. However, brilliant intuition helped the future billionaire get off the " sinking ship”One of the first, that is, just when the future fate of Enron was not yet obvious to everyone.
Centaurus Energy
After leaving Enron, rejecting a number of enviable job offers from such reputable financial institutions like a bank UBS or for example oil company Chevron, Arnold decides to play a bigger game. Using his own $ 8 million, plus additional funds from third-party investors, he organizes his closed energy company- hedge fund " Centaurus Energy Advisors, LLC"And determines the position of the manager ( which it still takes).
According to him, the purpose of creating the enterprise was to satisfy their own interests and unwillingness to fight the bureaucracy, endlessly proving their point of view to it.
There is a possibility, which Wikipedia does not tell about, that it was his image that was conveyed by the protagonist in the film "Selling Short", which tells about the 2008 crisis.
Created by him investment fund, based initially in a small building in Houston, Texas, and planned to build on the oil, gas and hydrocarbon trade. In that period of 2002, it would have come as a surprise to any American if a businessman wanted to open a fund specializing in energy assets. After all, the loud scandal of the ruin of Enron, accusations of the company of fraud - all this made the market volatility low, and investors were deprived of the opportunity to earn something, but being a genius, he calculated everything in advance and was not mistaken ( his hedge fund currently manages more than $ 3 billion).
Using his ability to trade and analyze the energy markets, John Arnold very quickly turned his company into a real gold mine for investors, providing them with absolutely fantastic profits for this industry in 180 and even 300% per annum.
For John Arnold, the crisis of those years was not a problem, as for most traders, but effective way gaining profit. The ability to think analytically made it possible to look at the crisis from a different angle and benefit from it. While otherscompanies were afraid to take the extra step, and the positive reputation of John's company grew. At the same time, during the first years of the fund's existence, third-party investments in the company did not come, they were spinning on their own budget.
And then the prices for energy resources began to rise again, the crisis passed, the banks felt the taste of profit and began to look for traders to work in the gas and oil markets, the list of the best was already the company Centaurus Energy.
The colossal, and most importantly, stable profitability provided Centaurus Energy and personally Arnold with an excellent reputation, which, in turn, attracted even more capital under his management, even though the services of this company are much more expensive than other similar hedge funds ...
By 2008, the fund managed about $ 3 billion and a four-tier structure:
- directly to Centaurus Energy;
- Centaurus Energy Qp;
- Centaurus Energy Partners;
- Centaurus Energy Master Fund.
In addition, Centaurus Advisors was created - an advisory division.
The secrets of the work and the very structure of the enterprise are strictly limited in access. But for the services provided to investors, the fund takes considerable interest - their amount is on average 1.5 times higher than other competitors in the market. From the profit received, the fund has 30% , and for the deposited funds 3% , then how other hedge funds have about 20% and 2%, respectively, as well as the fact that profits almost never fall below 200% per annum, which is an incredible result ( even such titans of investment as rarely can offer more than 30-40%).
Under such conditions, huge queues line up for those wishing to cooperate with Centaurus Advisors.
Among the unsuccessful years of the company - 2005, then their profit was 178%, moreover, such results are already considered incredible. For comparison - other well-known companies, for example, Vanguard Energy Vipers and Energy select spyder were able to make a profit 35% in 2005.
John Douglas Arnold prefers to remain silent about how such successes can be made in the energy market.
When the company Amaranth Advisors went bankrupt, Arnold's company was able to make money on this event $ 2 billion with initial investment $ 1.5 billion... In this transaction, success was on the side of the trader due to the successful correct forecasting of the decline in gas prices, and the company itself Amaranth Advisors played up, which paid off.
Centaurus Advisors Fund Development and Management
The successful existence and functioning of the Arnold Foundation is based on competent planning of activities and logical decisions of the manager. It is thanks to suchthe peculiarities of management, the company was not only able to withstand the crisis of 2008, but also to increase its profits. 10% of the shares of the National Coal Corporation passed into the ownership of the fund.
An important role in the success of the company is played by a personnel policy built in a certain way, aimed at reducing employee turnover.
The company had an unprecedented success in 2006-2007 at a time when its size was very small. The company had only 36 people, of which 17 traders came from the same giant. Enron like John himself. At the same time, the fund always had a narrow specialization and was considered a place “ for their».
All managerial forces were devoted to preventing the outflow of personnel. The best of the best were involved in the work. Former CEO of Enron Greg Wally was among them, as well as such trading stars as Bill Perkins, Jeffrey Welch, Konrad Gerla- Former Motherrock employee.
There was a vacancy in the staff meteorologist,
what was considered unusual at financial markets... But this position fully justified itself, because thanks to forecasting accurate weather events, the chances with the greatest probability to play correctly to reduce or increase energy prices increase.
For example, if you know the peculiarities of the weather for the next few days, you can predict what the demand for fuel will be for heating houses.
The financial condition of John Arnold
At the age of 33 financial condition investor exceeded the amount of $ 1 billion, then John was already able to turn from a millionaire to a billionaire.
According to the magazine Forbes, this talented and intelligent analyst was the youngest billionaire in America. The magazine gave the trader an honorable 317th place in the list of 400 richest people in the United States. It is important to note that Arnold made his own capital on his own, and did not inherit it, like many of the Americans ahead of him in the ranking.
In 2008, Forbes already estimated the merchant's financial condition at $ 1.15 billion, while other magazines were able to estimate this figure higher - at $ 1.5-2 billion.
Personal life and interests
Not only the activities of the company are closed, but also the life of John Arnold itself - the trading genius is very secretive, unlike many of his colleagues, and tries to refrain from publicity as much as possible.
Very little is known about his personality, manners and interests, and mostly from the words of those who have worked with him for a long time, and not his own. Also, unlike most other well-known traders, Arnold is in no hurry to write books describing his trade secrets, which gave rise to a lot of gossip and confusion about his " false genius”Explaining the incredible success not by the ability to analyze, but only by the use of revolutionary trading platform, insider information and involvement in fraudulent schemes.
In particular, for a long time he lived very modestly, despite his large incomes, and only relatively recently began to collect expensive cars, antiques and various works of art. OArnold's manners and personality are also only commendable (in communication he behaves intelligently, but in business he is decent, versed in art, dances well, courteous with women, etc.).
For all the time, only one odious trick was associated with his name, when he acquired a plot of land in Texas Houston with a historic mansion built in 1926, which, according to some art historians, even had a certain historical and architectural value and demolished it in order to build home for your family.
Even less is known about the personal life of the head of Centaurus - he is married to Laura Elene Arnold (Munoz), who is the co-chair of their joint charitable foundation Laura and John Arnold Foundation, from which he has three children.
The charitable foundation makes donations for the development of science, education, reforms of the pension and criminal legal system. Little is also known about Arnold's wife: that she graduated from Harvard College, Yale Law School and holds a Master of Philosophy from Cambridge University.
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