????阿諾德在Centaurus公司管理著一個(gè)松散的協(xié)會(huì)組織，其中大多數(shù)是男性交易員，這些人喜愛虛張聲勢(shì)，偶爾還會(huì)違反紀(jì)律。許多員工都是曾在安然共事的同事或競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手公司的員工。作為公司的掌舵者，他被尊為王中之王。

????甚至就連曾經(jīng)調(diào)查過(guò)阿諾德在安然公司活動(dòng)的政府監(jiān)管人員也對(duì)他推崇有加。美國(guó)的能源監(jiān)管部門商品期貨交易委員會(huì)（the Commodity Futures Trading Commission，CFTC）曾在安然公司破產(chǎn)后調(diào)查阿諾德和其他交易員。然而，這個(gè)機(jī)構(gòu)竟然在2009年拜訪阿諾德，詢問該委員會(huì)應(yīng)該如何改進(jìn)工作方式。七年前，阿諾德曾是CFTC的調(diào)查的目標(biāo)，而七年后，他卻成了不容置疑的權(quán)威，連CFTC都要向他征求意見，這恰恰證明了能源市場(chǎng)圈子小的特點(diǎn)。

????那么，阿諾德這樣的天才交易員為什么選擇急流勇退呢？這個(gè)決定與交易行業(yè)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)形勢(shì)密不可分。的確，阿諾德熱衷于競(jìng)爭(zhēng)和取勝，但近年來(lái)對(duì)沖基金的回報(bào)率不斷下降，開始迫使他重新考慮這場(chǎng)游戲的性質(zhì)。阿諾德賴以名利雙收的天然氣市場(chǎng)如今已經(jīng)今非昔比；另外，水力壓裂法的出現(xiàn)使開采公司能夠輕松地獲得難以數(shù)計(jì)的天然氣。在可預(yù)見的未來(lái)，天然氣的供應(yīng)將非常充裕。如此一來(lái)，天然氣價(jià)格瘋漲、引無(wú)數(shù)交易員競(jìng)折腰的局面將成為歷史。它對(duì)美國(guó)來(lái)說(shuō)是好消息，但是對(duì)阿諾德這些倚重天然氣驅(qū)動(dòng)公司利潤(rùn)引擎的對(duì)沖基金經(jīng)理來(lái)說(shuō)卻并非福音。

????如果金融市場(chǎng)的確存在什么真相，這個(gè)真相或許其實(shí)是這樣的：市場(chǎng)游戲難度增加時(shí)，交易員們就不愿意再玩了。

????但是，阿諾德絕不會(huì)就此銷聲匿跡。阿諾德是一家之長(zhǎng)，這個(gè)小家還在添丁加口。但他已經(jīng)開始熱心慈善。2010年，他和妻子勞拉響應(yīng)比爾?蓋茨夫婦和沃倫?巴菲特的倡議簽署財(cái)產(chǎn)捐贈(zèng)聲明，將捐出自己的大部分財(cái)產(chǎn)。

????譯者：?jiǎn)虡潇o/汪皓

????At his fund, Arnold presided over a loose federation of mostly male traders known for their swashbuckling lifestyles and occasionally unruly behavior. Many of his hires were former colleagues from Enron or competing firms. In his role as head of the firm, he was revered as a king among kings. (See Arnold on Fortune's 40 under 40 list last year)

????Even the government regulators who once investigated his activities at Enron seem to hold him in high regard. In 2009, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. energy watchdog that once went after Arnold and other traders at Enron in the wake of the company's spectacular demise, called him to testify on how the agency might better do its job. It is truly a testament to the small-world nature of the energy market that a trader once targeted by the CFTC would, seven years later, be sought out for his opinion as not just an equal, but an undisputed authority.

????So why would a trader of Arnold's caliber ever retire? Well, it has a lot to do with that competitive streak. Since Arnold's passion is competing – and winning – recent years of diminished hedge fund returns have forced him to rethink the nature of the game. The natural gas market, his bread and butter, isn't what it used to be, and the advent of hydraulic fracturing has placed hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of gas within easy reach of drillers. With supply looking plentiful for the foreseeable future, gas is no longer prone to the kinds of gravity-defying price spikes that once drew traders to it. This is good news for America, but not so great for hedge fund managers, like Arnold, who relied heavily on gas to fire their profit engine.

????If there is one financial Truth, maybe it is that when markets are not longer easy to game, traders will no longer want to play.

????But don't bet you've heard the last of Arnold. The father of a growing family who signed the Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett giving pledge to donate a majority of his wealth with his wife, Laura, in 2010, has already taken a keen interest in philanthropy.