33 Years Old John Arnold IS The Best energy trader in the world

This Houston native was raised by lawyer dad, accountant mom. Studied at Vanderbilt U., graduated in 3 years. Became oil trader for Enron 1995; said to have earned $750 million for company in 2001. Energy outfit famously collapsed a year later. went into business for himself. Today runs energy fund Centaurus Energy, said to boast of 240% annualized returns since 2002. Big score last year buying up hedge fund Amaranth Advisors’ losing positions in natural gas. Assets under management: $2.5 billion. Youngest member of The Forbes 400. Transform a 8 million fund into a 2.5 Billion Fund in 4 years! (last year he made 2 Billion dollar for himself)


Topping this year’s list of top paid hedge fund managers is John Arnold, according to the issue of Trader Monthly due on newsstands April 17. The thirty-three year old Arnold is head of energy hedge fund Centaurus Energy, where he earned between $1.5 and $2 billion last year, according to the magazine. This puts him on top of better known hedge funds kings Eddie Lampert, T. Boone Pickens, Stevie Cohen.

So how did Arnold do it? Arnold was one of the traders who was rumored last year to have taken the opposite sides of the trading position of Brian Hunter, the Calgary based energy trader whose bets on nature gas prices helped topple Amaranth Advisors.
Arnold cut his teeth trading natural gas at Enron. A January 2006 article in the New York Times described his fund's origins and its offices.

Centaurus eschews most publicity and operates out of the eighth floor of a nondescript building near a highway, its glass doors tinted with light blue to prevent visitors from seeing what happens inside.
When Mr. Arnold, 31, created Centaurus in 2002 with $8 million of his own money, the energy trading industry was on its knees, incapacitated by the fraud and irrational exuberance at Enron. Since then, Centaurus has amassed $1.5 billion in assets under management and has hired big-name traders like Greg Whalley, a former Enron president.


Hunter may have another chance to take on Arnold, as he recently began putting together a new energy trading fund, Solengo Capital.

Arnold opened the fund in 2002. 2003/2004/2005 were all over 100% returns, 2006 was over 300% return, the fund is up to $3B and his $$ makes up a huge chunk of the fund. At this point he's almost entirely paying himself for his performance. It all started with the $8 mil he got from Enron as a bonus back in the day. Congrats for hitting it out of the park.