How to Make Millions
Most traders lose money, with studies consistently showing that over 90% of retail traders fail within the first two years. Only 0.5% of day traders consistently earn more than a bank teller’s salary. The high failure rate is typically due to emotional decision-making, and lack of a proven strategy.
Not great odds!
Yet people keep piling into stocks, convinced that they will be able to beat the odds. Why?
There is no shortage of people with stories of how they became multi millionaires overnight, and offering their winning strategy to others – for a hefty fee, of course.
I wonder how many of these gurus actually trade, and make their money that way. I suspect not many.
Too good to miss!
I had a push advert the other day inviting me to buy a new strategy ‘The German Strategy’.
I bookmarked it. When I came back to it, the page was no longer available, but I had recognized the photo of the guy who was pushing it: Markus Heitkoetter.
Funny, I thought, what about ‘The Wheel’? Is he doing something different now?
So down the rabbit hole I went.
VP of IBM Germany?
The first thing that rang my sceptical bell was his bio – he worked for IBM for 3 years and was ‘poised to become the youngest-ever VP.’
Strange I thought.
Having worked for IBM (UK) Ltd myself (as a systems engineer) I knew that this was highly unlikely (if not downright impossible) to be VP within 3 years.
AI concurred
Rags to Riches
Well, not exactly rags. He threw up his IBM job and left Germany with his family and $30k USD and is now a self-made multi millionaire. Sounds good – who doesn’t love a success story?
But how does he make his millions? We assume it is because he is a successful trader. After all, he has published 3 strategies:
- The Simple Strategy: Intraday trend following on futures, ETFs, Forex. Quick entries and exits through range bars.
- The Wheel Strategy: Options income by selling puts-buying when exercised – selling calls and going round this circle.
- The PowerX Strategy: Marketed as a strategy, but actually a platform or trading framework
What about results?
I have looked and looked – he has not published any results from any of the strategies.
We are expected to draw the conclusion that they work – if they didn’t then he wouldn’t be a multi-millionaire, would he?
In previous blog posts we have looked at the ‘Wheel’ strategy and concluded that it would not make any real profits (except in cherry-picked occasions), so I decided to concentrate on PowerX.
PowerX
PowerX Optimizer is a software tool that scans markets, evaluates setups, and manages trades based on defined rules. The PowerX “strategy” itself is simply a combination of basic indicators (MACD, RSI, Stochastic) applied to swing trading and it calculates entry, stop, target, and position sizing. You can adjust filters (price, volume, volatility) and apply it to different instruments (stocks, options).
What about PowerX results?
Again, none are published. As the software allows you to adjust input filters (stock, price, vol, volatility, etc) then you are essentially stock-picking. If you don’t make money guess what: you picked the wrong stock and the wrong parameters!
According to AI:
Performance data is not published, so it doesn’t qualify as a proven “strategy” in the professional sense.
I agree. So where do these multi millions come from?
The Software?
That is my guess. He claims that he has built a ‘fortress of wealth’. I am sure that with all his self-promotion if he had a proven track record from the strategies he would have shown it. Instead he says the strategies have been ‘battle tested’.
Surely not!
PowerX software retails for $3,997. The website claims that 6,129 people have bought it.
That’s $24,497,613.
Sometimes it is on sale for $1,997. That is $12,419,343.
Certainly, that classifies him as a multi-millionaire!
Development costs
Of course there are development costs, but it has to be noted that it uses existing APIs and third-party services for key functionalities. It integrates with Tradier for brokerage services and utilizes real-time market data feeds. It is built upon established infrastructures and uses APIs, which reduces the development cost.
Rockwell Trading (Heitkoetter’s company) claims to have spent $1m on the software but that includes customer support and training, marketing and sales, infrastructure and hosting.
It still leaves quite a bit of change from $24m!
An aside – the charting and market data on this website are not developed by me, but are embedded widgets.
Why do people fall for it?
- The Illusion of Simplicity: Heitkoetter markets his systems as mechanical, rules-based, and easy to follow. Many new traders are overwhelmed by conflicting information — so a system that tells them “what to buy, when to sell” feels like clarity in chaos.
- Professional Branding and Storytelling: Heitkoetter presents a compelling narrative: ex-IBM, six-figure job, walked away for freedom, now trades in 15 minutes a day. This fits the “escape the 9-to-5” dream archetype — especially appealing to disillusioned professionals.
- Social Proof and Community: Frequent live streams, testimonials, success stories from supposed “students.” Rockwell Trading creates an echo chamber effect where buyers feel part of a winning tribe.
- High-Energy Marketing + Funnels: Aggressive use of funnels: free book → free webinar → software pitch → coaching upsell. Uses proven direct-response techniques:
- Scarcity (“only 7 licenses left”)
- Authority (“traded for 20 years”)
- Anchoring (“$20,000 in value for only $3,997”)
- Lack of Due Diligence by Buyers: Most retail traders don’t ask: “Where is the audited performance?” or “Can I backtest this?”. Many assume legitimacy because the software looks polished and the testimonials sound real.
- Confirmation Bias: New traders want the system to work. Once they’ve bought in (mentally and financially), they ignore red flags and look only for confirming examples of success.
Sad, but true. It has been my experience that people prefer dreams to reality. When one dream doesn’t work, then there’s plenty of others!
To the markets . .
A pretty good week on the markets. New all time highs! Let’s check the charts:
SPY Charts
SPY has made a new high! Good news, but let’s not get carried away. It has only just pierced the resistance line established earlier this year, but it is looking hopeful. The volume is above average so that is a good sign, as is the small candles. I think that shows that the uptrend is proceeding in an orderly manner, and not getting carried away with excitement.
The longer term chart looks nice – heading north again.
SPYG Charts
SPYG is looking good – it has definitely pierced resistance, which is a good sign (although it would be perfectly normal behaviour to drop and retest it for support).
On the long term chart we can see that it has now pierced the uptrend as we were hoping.
QQQ Charts
QQQ is looking good. It has broken through the resistance and has made new highs. As for SPYG, it would be perfectly normal behaviour to drop back and retest for support at this level.
And on the weekly chart we can see that is is back above the previously-drawn uptrend.
VIX Chart
The VIX has settled down and has broken the uptrend I though was developing. Good news indeed! I am glad to be wrong.
ITMeter
The week ahead
It is another short week this week – the markets close early on Thursday and are closed Friday. (Don’t you Americans ever work? Just kidding!)
The Middle East and NATO situations appear to have settled down – at least for now, so hopefully there won’t be any more shocks on that front.
There are some announcements:
Tuesday
- ISM Manufacturing PMI : U.S. manufacturing activity; soft numbers may suggest economic slowdown.
- Constellation Brands earnings : Early Q2 earnings report; can influence consumer staples sector
Wednesday
- Tesla Q2 vehicle delivery report: Can affect EV stocks and broader market sentiment.
- ISM Services PMI: Key data on service sector strength, closely watched by markets
Thursday
- June Jobs Report (Nonfarm Payrolls): Expected to show slowing job growth (95K est.), with unemployment edging to 4.3%
The Futures
The futures are up a bit, but it is still 4 hours to market open. I just saw the headline Canada scraps digital services tax so I expect that is contributing to the positive sentiment.
This blog coming to you from . .
Iceland! I have always wanted to some here and am in a little town on the east coast called Djúpivogur. There is spectacular scenery – I’m told, but the mountains are blocked by low cloud. I am hoping that it will lift before I leave.
Last week I was in Greenland – and finally saw icebergs. Here’s one that came really close to the boat – very beautiful! Actually, it is a ‘bergy bit’ – not big enough to qualify as a fully-fledged iceberg.
If it was any smaller it would be a ‘growler’ – who knew?
Midnight sun!
Above the Arctic Circle, facing north, off the north coast of Iceland here was my first night of it (taken from my stateroom).
If you want to see any more photos i’ve put them on Facebook, here’s the link.
Fingers crossed for a good week!
Heather
Trade the tide, not the waves
18 Responses
Hi Heather,
I hope you’re doing well.
I had a quick question regarding your recommendation to buy call options with expirations of 6 months to 1 year. In your book, you mentioned that shorter expirations are fine as long as you remember to roll them. That makes sense, but I’m curious—why not just choose the longest available expiration from the beginning?
For example, I noticed the furthest expiration currently available is December 17, 2027, which is about 2.5 years out. Wouldn’t buying such long-dated options help reduce the need to roll, potentially simplifying things?
I understand that longer-dated options come with higher premiums due to greater time value, but since that value isn’t lost right away—and some of it would still remain even a year later—I’m wondering if the higher upfront cost might be worthwhile.
I’d love to hear your thoughts when you have a chance.
Best regards,
Hi Tyler,
Buying long dated options is not a problem, but there are 2 drawbacks: 1) the cost – you are paying for time value you probably won’t need because: 2) in 2.5 years the index will probably have risen and if you bought a 50% strike then it may be down to a 30% strike (or less, depending on how much the index has risen).
This reduces you leverage which means that your profits will not be as great.
If you want to buy LEAPS (options 1+ years to expiry then if you still remember to roll up when your strike% reduces (even though you don’t need to roll out) then you should get the same results as ITM. Just that you are investing more than you need to.
Hope this helps.
H
Iceland! I hear in two days the northern lights will be amazing. Lucky timing for you! I wish clear skys for you!
Thank you Kate – unfortunately its a trade off between the northern lights and the midnight sun! Such a shame I can’t have both!
But hope your wish for me comes true – after several days of fog I need some lovely blue skies!
x
h
Regarding Markus, a Youtuber named Karl Domm did a review of him. Karl exposed a lot of issues and if I am not mistaken, Markus filed a law suit. Karl runs a website (and business) called Real P&L whereby he shows his returns live every Monday morning on Youtube and encourages every other Youtuber to do so as well. Karl likes to expose a lot of the other Youtubers. As Karl likes to say. “If the P&L is not real, what else are they trying to conceal?”.
Hey Thor
(just been educated how to pronounce ‘Thor’ in Icelandic – not what you would expect!)
Lawsuits – they are always on my mind, people are so quick to serve, hopefully everything I have said is factual – but as I learned a long time ago ‘truth is no defense in law’ (a very long story – 4 years of my life – but won in the end)
I’ll have to look up this Karl Domm – he sounds like he has his head screwed on correctlhy.
Thank you!
h
Hi
it is so funny I felt the same way about your subject today so much fluff and lies on the internet
thank you
Raymond Limansky.M.D.
Hey Raymond – thank you!
I was worried that I had gone on a bit too long . . . but once you have the bit between your teeth its hard to stop!
h
Funny, I seen a that Power X system advertisement before. Yes, those stories are designed to tap into emotions. Trading is emotional is one is not following a process for entry and exit. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Veeron – whew!
After I had published the blog I had second thoughts – thought I should have been less direct – but truth is truth!
Thank you – making me feel better!
h
Hi Heather,
Thank you for your books on options, they’re wonderful. I am a portfolio manager, and I loved how you gave your back testing. Couple of questions. Usually, people measure the golden cross as the 50 SMA crossing above the 200 SMA, but you indicate that you use the 10 SMA crossing over the 200 SMA. Is this to catch volatility faster? Also, are we “in” at the moment? I see a lot of PM’s saying that stagflation will make a hard correction soon. I currently have 2 calls expiring in September, and are showing 20% profits as of now, and I was thinking about exiting in case of a hard correction. Thank you!
HI Justin
a portfolio manager? very impressive!
Re the golden cross – it was backtesting that showed up the 10/200 cross. From memory the 11/200 wasn’t bad, the 10/201 was good too, but the 10/200 just beat everything ele. I was a bit annoyed as it sounds to glib – if it was 17/213 cross it would have had more gravitas – but stats are stats, and the 10/200 beats all the reast.
Yes, we are IN’ at the moment – that’s what the ITMeter shows (I started that becaue people were asking if we were in or out – maybe it is too obscure? what do you think? I have to be careful as I can’t advise as I am not a financial adviser).
The strategy says stay in until a death cross – that’s what it has been backtested on, and that’s what I will be doing personally. I know its tempting to ‘take profits’ but I haven’t found a good strategy to do that. One of my previous blogs looks at previous bull markets and how long they lasted – but I can’t find it easily. I need to catalogue them better.
You could maybe have a lookif you have time.
Hope this helps
h
Hi Heather, When you post your daily and weekly charts on your blogs. I notice I don’t see the time frame for each i.e. 30mins, 1hr, 4hrs, etc. Is that for a reason or it doesn’t matter? Thanks!
Hi Anthony – everything I do is on the daily chart. if you look at the charts on the website you will see the instructions on how to put the ITM parameters on them. Here’s the link: https://heathercullen.com/stock-charts/
Hope this helps
h
The definition of insanity… doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
r
Hey Randy – quite!
Yet people do it – I think it is the ‘hope springs eternal’ syndrome!
h
I’ve read some of Heitkotter’s material. I’ve never bought anything he was selling however. I’m glad to read your assessment. (Thank you). I don’t have to wonder if I’m missing anything now.
What’s the matter? Did you get tired of the South of France? 🙂
Hey KC – yes, Ive read them too – but obviously never signed up to his offerings.
Which is not to cast judgement on those who do – I have fallen for quite a few smooth-talking gurus in my time!
South of France – yes, lovely, but you don’t want to be there July / August – way too crowded. Iceland, on the other hand – not crowded at all, and today the sun is shining and it is absolutely beautiful. At Vestmanneyiar (their spelling is so hard!)
h