"Here's My Story"
Hi, I'm Markus Heitkoetter, and I have fulfilled my dream: I am living the lifestyle I want to live, can afford to buy the things I want and have more time for the things that are really important to me.
But it hasn't always been like this. Here's how it alMy Vision And Goall started:
I was always fascinated by trading. In fact, I did my first trade when I was still in High School. I invested all the "risk capital" I had and bought one share of Volkswagen (VW), a German car manufacturer. I think it cost me 50 DeutscMy Vision And Goalhmark, which is approximately $50. There I was: Proud owner of my first stock.
This was back in 1989, and I didn't have a cell phone. I don't know if cell phones even existed! And I didn't have a computer with real time data. At that time, my computer was a Commodore 64, with NO charting capabilities. So I called my broker at least twice a day and asked, "how much money did I make?"
On the third day my broker asked: "Markus, how much money do you want to make on this trade?" - I thought for a few seconds, and said "I would like tMy Vision And Goalo make $10, because that would mean I made 20% on my initial investment." - He said "Done! Come to my office tomorrow and I'll give you $10, but STOP CALLING ME."
So that was my first trade and it was a profitable one!
But I realized that I didn't have enough capital to really make a living day trading, so I went to college, got a Bachelor's Degree in Business and Computer Science, and started a career. I climbed the corporate ladder very quickly, and at the age of 33, I was about to become the youngest Vice President of IBM in Germany. Life was good: I was responsible for IBM Global Services in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), I traveled across Europe and the Middle East, flew business class, rented luxury cars, became a Platinum Member for major airlines, car rentals and hotels, and was enjoying life in the fast lane.
In 2001, Everything Changed
My Vision And Goal
But the corporate life was taking a toll on me: I was working 6 days a week and only at home for just hours on the weekend. Often I came home on a Saturday and left on Sunday. I had no time for friends, family, or the things that are really important in life. I realized I was stuck in the corporate rat race.
And in April 2000, the Internet Bubble burst. Working for IBM Global Services became more and more challenging, and in July 2002, IBM announced the purchase of Price Waterhouse Coopers Consulting (PWC) and the merger between IBM Global Services and PWC. And we all know what "merging" means!
The Decision
I decided it was time to get out of the corporate ratMy Vision And Goale race and pursue my true passion: Trading!
While working for IBM, I was able to save some money and should be able to survive for a year without any income.
But the changes would be radical:
I needed to change my lifestyle: I would have to move into an apartment, sell my nice German car, and buy a used and cheaper one, eat in instead of dining in fancy restaurants, no more traveling ... even clipping coupons! But I was determined: I wanted to get out of the corporate rat race and become a trader.
In September 2002, I left IBM, sold a lot of my stuff, packed a few boxes, a bed, a table, four chairs and moved from Germany to the USA.
The Search
My Vision And Goal
While working for IBM and living in hotel suites, I had been reading many books on day trading. I bought expensive software and since I had a degree in Computer Science, I even started developing my own day trading systems. Now I needed to make trading my profession, my source of income, and so I bought more day trading courses, books, systems, ... and spent most of my day in front of my computer.
It was grueling. Most things didn't work! I kept trying and trying, but my results were not matching my efforts!
I'm Ready To Give Up!
I was ready to give up!
I already spent a fortune on courses, seminars and books. I have been working hard and put many hours into my trading adventure. I'm not lazy, and I don't think I'm stupid. But at that point I just didn't know what to do or what to believe any more.
My trading account was not going anywhere: I made some money and I would lose some more. The account was dwindling down, and I'm bleeding to death. And my wife has news for me: She is pregnant.
My Vision And Goal
In April 2003, my son Julius was born six weeks early and in his first days and weeks on earth he's battling all sorts of problems, and our medical bills were piling up. I was running out of funds quickly!
The three of us lived in an apartment that is barely furnished. What a difference! A year ago I was living the life in the fast lane, and now my decision to become a full time trader is severely impacting my family's life. But not as I thought it would: I COULDN'T afford to buy the things I wanted - heck, I could barely buy the things we needed. I spent most of my time in front of my computer, trying to make it work!My Vision And Goal
But I had to face reality: My day trading was not producing any income.
It seems that my career as a trader was done. I might have to go back and work for IBM again, in a different position and with a much smaller salary, since IBM had started laying off employees because of the merger with PWC.
The Breakthrough
With my back against the wall, I began to realize that I had to think differently.
Instead of trying to make $10,000 per month, I needed My Vision And Goalto focus on the next trade. Make $100. Then another $100. I started to focus on consistency instead of windfall profits. I realized that once I become consistent, I could increase the number of contracts I was trading, and instead of making $100 on a trade, I would make $200, then $300, ... $500... $1,000. I needed to start small, and then use Money Management to grow big.
My Epiphany
I realized that there is no Holy Grail, no day trading system or day trading robot that you can buy for $97 that will make you rich.
And I learned that as a trader, you need three essential skills:
Determine the direction of the market.
Go with the flow! If the market is going up, buy. If the market is going down, sell. And if the market is going sideways, stay on the sidelines to avoid getting chopped into pieces. Being able to identify the direction was crucial to my trading!
Know when to exit a position.
Use a stop loss, and use profit targets! Often I was in a winning trade, but I didn't take profits off the table while they were there. And so I let a winning trade turn into a loser. Then I started using profit targets, and it made a huge difference in my trading. My profit targets were larger than my stop losses, and therefore the average winning trade was bigger than the average losing trade. That meant that I would be profitable if I "only" had a winning percentage of 50%. THIS epiphany took a lot of pressure off me.
Use Money Management to grow your account
Use proper risk, trade and money management! It has been proven again and again that poor money management will wipe out your trading account EVEN IF you have a profitable trading strategy! I realized that I had no idea about money management and that THIS ignorance cost me a lot of money. I analyzed my past trades and discoverMy Vision And Goaled that I could have done MUCH if I had used proper money management!
I finally got it!
I found an easy way to determine whether the market was going up, down or sideways. I used stop losses and profit targets, and my goal was to have a winning percentage of 50%, so I just needed to be right every other trade. What a relief!
I became more relaxed. And I focused on small, but consistent profits, since now I knew the secret of Money Management.
And my day trading turned around, and so did my life:
I bought a house and we moved out of the apartment into a nice 4-bedroom house. I bought a new car and paid cash! I was less stressed, and I could finally spend more time with my family.
Life was good again!
Neighbors and friends saw that I don't go into an office and spent a lot of time with my family. So they asked what I did for a living, so I invited them into my home office and showed them. They were fascinated! They loved my simple, yet very structured approach to day trading. They told their friends about it, and more and more people started asking me to show them how to day trade. I'm was torn: I wanted to help them, show them how to trade so that they could live the lifestyle they wanted, but I spent more time teaching than day trading - and my trading started to suffer.
Rockwell TradingMy Vision And Goal
With the help of my brother and my best friend, I created a website to share my knowledge. We were thinking about a name, and my sister-in-law came up with the name "Rockwell Trading." In February 2005, Rockwell Trading was founded and we published several day trading strategies. We were overwhelmed by the success: In just a few months we had become the biggest partner for Strategy Runner. Hundreds of traders were using our day trading strategies. And in early 2006, an independent company, tracking more than 1,500 trading strategies, ranked our strategies for many months in the Top Ten for "Best Futures Trading Strategies."
Our website received thousands of hits and emails were pouring in. We weren't expecting that level of demand and I have to put a team together to help me - quickly. But it was important to me that my team does what I am committed to doing: Helping traders to achieve their trading goals in a systematic way and change their lives! I wanted to make sure that every trader who comes to us gets exactly the same quality of day trading education that I gave neighbors and friends when they were sitting next to me in my home oMy Vision And Goalffice.
Before bringing anybody on board they had to know and be fully committed to my goal:
My Vision And Goal
My goal is to help traders like you to achieve your trading goals,
so that you, too, can live the lifestyle you want, afford to buy the things you want to have, be more relaxed and have more time for the things you enjoy doing, and that are important to you.
So over the years I have developed a systematic step-by-step approach that takes you from where you are today, to where you want to be. I'll give you proven day trading strategies, solid risk and money management techniques, as well as easy to use tools and techniques to control your emotions and trade with confidence and consistency.
Here's What They Say About Me
It seems that what I'm teaching is helping other traders. Here's what they say: