Trader John Arnold
In the process of studying the stories of successful traders, a pattern of capital growth with the age of its owner is almost always visible.
It was the large stockbrokers who achieved their success by acquiring a huge amount of knowledge and spending at least 20 years on the stock exchange. Actually, almost every novice trader is guided by this logic, because another year and I will become better.
In fact, experience is a great teacher, but it has very little to do with successful people. For example, the stock exchange genius John Arnold earned his billions by the age of 39, and he became a millionaire long before that.
The biography of John Arnold is an excellent example of how the right chosen path of development at the very beginning can help in the near future.
John Arnold did not go through the hardest school of survival on the stock exchange floor, losing his deposit over and over again, and luck accompanied him throughout his entire career.
John Arnold was born in 1974, in the most ordinary middle-income family. His father earned good money working as a lawyer, and his mother was an accountant. John showed a love for numbers from childhood, and his mental makeup was that of a child prodigy. So after graduating from school, he moved to the town of Nashville, Tennessee, where he entered Vanderbilt University. The most interesting thing is that John Arnold was able to graduate from this university in just three years and received a degree.
First job
John's phenomenal abilities and thirst for making money led him to Walt Street in 1995. His first job was as a practicing trader at the energy giant Enron. The most interesting thing is that this company was at that time a leader in its industry, so getting such a responsible vacancy at such a young age was simply luck.
John initially specialized in oil trade, however, his performance in trading this asset was too low, so he was transferred to trading natural gas. However, in 2000, due to John's mistake, the company lost $200 million. For some reason, the trader was not fired, and believe me, for good reason.
Literally a year later, thanks to the first new developed trading platform, John Arnold brings his company almost $1 billion. For this achievement, the company presented the largest bonus check in the company's history in the amount of $8 million.
Rats are fleeing the ship
Literally that same year, millions of investors received terrible news - Enron was bankrupt. This news leaked out quite by accident, namely after the suicide of the deputy head of the company, and the head himself was sent to prison for many years. Enron's accountants managed to create more than 600 subsidiaries and write off all losses to them, presenting false reports to their investors.
Most likely, John Arnold was aware of the company's manipulations, so literally before everyone knew that Enron was bankrupt, he took his prize check in the amount of 8 million and left the company. Just a couple of days later, the value of the company’s shares is reduced to zero, and the energy market goes to the bottom and loses liquidity.
Own initiative. Billion dollar success
Despite the fact that Enron went bankrupt, all employers knew full well that John closed the year with a billion-dollar profit. That is why he was showered with invitations to various foundations. However, instead, John Arnold created his own fund, which was essentially involved in the same sector as Enron. Having lured the best traders from the company, he created the Centaurus Energy hedge fund. Because the fund used fairly aggressive tactics, on average the company closed the year with growth of 200 percent.
In 2006, a fateful incident occurred, namely, being an industry leader, John had been holding short positions in gas since the summer, and his main competitor from the Amaranth company was buying up the asset at that moment. John won the confrontation between the two giants, earning more than 300 percent for his company, at a time when the market leader, Amaranth, lost 6 billion and went bankrupt.
Having purchased a couple of gas storage facilities in Louisiana and Colorado, John closes his foundation and is actively involved in charity work. John Arnold's net worth is estimated at $3 billion.