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What do Bullish and Bearish mean?
Bullish means the system is signaling to be invested in that market - it expects prices to move higher. Bearish means the system is signaling to be in cash for that market (shorting isn’t a recommendation). These aren't opinions or forecasts - they’re generated mechanically by our momentum models based on price data alone.
What's the difference between Max Return and Min Risk?
Max Return is optimized to capture the largest possible gains over time. It stays invested longer and tolerates more volatility. Min Risk is optimized to avoid drawdowns - it gets out earlier when conditions deteriorate, which means it sometimes sacrifices upside to protect capital. Think of Max Return as the accelerator and Min Risk as the brake.
Can the two strategies disagree on the same market?
Yes, and it happens regularly. When Max Return is Bullish but Min Risk is Bearish, it typically means the market is in a zone where the trend is positive but the risk of a pullback is elevated. When both agree, the signal carries more conviction. When they disagree, it's useful information about where we are in the cycle.
What do the 12M and 24M return figures represent?
These are the compounded returns each system has generated over the past 12 and 24 months if you followed every signal - buying when it said Bullish and moving to cash when it said Bearish. They're a rolling track record, not a projection. They include all signal changes during that window, so they reflect how the system has actually performed through whatever the market threw at it.
What does Proximity tell me?
Proximity is an estimate of how close the current signal is to flipping. ‘Distant’ means the system is comfortably positioned and a change is unlikely soon. ‘Moderate’ means a change is still some way off, but a little nearer than ‘Distant’. ‘Close’ means conditions are approaching a potential flip. ‘Imminent’ means a signal change could happen within days. ‘Fresh’ means the signal has recently flipped. The estimated days figure is exactly that - an estimate, not a countdown, and it may change from day to day. Estimated days is only shown if the momentum is moving towards a signal change and that change appears relatively near.
How often do signals change?
It depends on the market and the strategy. Min Risk systems tend to flip more frequently because they're quicker to react to changing conditions. Max Return systems hold signals for longer. Across all five markets, you might see a handful of signal changes per month, though there can be quiet stretches with none at all. The systems don't change signals for the sake of it - they only flip when the data warrants it. During strong trends, they may not change for extended periods.
What should I do when a signal changes?
That depends on which strategy you're following and your own investment approach. If you're following the Max Return strategy for a given market and it flips from Bullish to Bearish, that's a signal to move that allocation to cash. If it flips from Bearish to Bullish, that's a signal to get back in. You don't need to act within minutes - the systems are designed around closing prices, so acting within a day or two of a signal change is perfectly fine.
What if I miss a signal change?
Don't panic. These systems capture trends that typically last weeks or months, not hours. Missing the first day or two of a new signal rarely makes a material difference to your returns over time. That said, acting on signals promptly is better than acting late. If you've missed several days, check the Proximity column - if the signal still looks well-established, and isn’t showing an estimated number of days to flip again, it's generally fine to enter. Some people prefer to wait a few days to see a new signal become established but the returns are shown based on following every signal precisely.
Do I need to act on every signal across all five markets?
No. Most subscribers focus on the markets and strategies that match their own investment goals. If you're only interested in gold and silver, ignore the Bitcoin signals. If you prefer a conservative approach, focus on the Min Risk strategies. The dashboard shows everything so you have the full picture, but nobody is expected to trade all ten signals.
Are these signals telling me to buy specific stocks?
No. The dashboard signals apply to broad market exposure - typically through ETFs or the asset itself. A Bullish signal on Gold means the system favors being invested in gold, not in any particular gold stock. If you want to use the signals to select individual mining companies, that's where the Miner Rankings come in.
What does the GoldBuzz Miner Score measure?
It measures how well a mining company performs relative to its sector ETF during the periods when our system says to be invested. Gold miners are compared to GDX. Silver miners are compared to SIL. The score captures whether a company adds value beyond what you'd get from simply owning the ETF.
The score doesn’t just look at overall profit, as that is often misleading and could have been generated from one large price spike which is unlikely to repeat. Instead, it compares daily returns over the past year. For Gold mining companies, it compares each daily price with the GDX Gold Miners ETF, but ONLY on days when the Gold Miners Max Return system was Bullish. This gives a strong indication of whether a company is an outperformer when our system recommends being in the market. For Silver mining companies, the SIL Silver Miners ETF is used as the benchmark and ONLY days when the Silver Miners Max Return system was bullish.
Since the purpose of using these ratings is to outperform buy-and-hold over the long term, it makes sense to look at returns only when the system is Bullish.
The median edge is calculated by comparing a company’s daily prices to its benchmark. Any score over 0% indicates it generally outperforms the benchmark. The win rate is the number of days (when the system is Bullish) that the company outperformed the benchmark. These two factors are combined to produce the Score.
What does a score of 5.0 mean?
A score of 5.0 means the company performed identically to its benchmark ETF over the past year. It's the dividing line - above 5.0 means the company outperformed the ETF, below 5.0 means it underperformed. Think of it as the breakeven point: at 5.0, you'd have been just as well off owning the ETF.
Generally speaking, you want to look for companies that score 5 or higher, so that the risk-reward is in your favor - otherwise GDX and SIL provide more diversification.
Why do most companies score below 5.0?
Because most individual mining companies underperform their sector ETF on a risk-adjusted basis. The ETF gives you diversified exposure across many companies without the risk of any single one blowing up. Consistently beating that diversified basket is genuinely difficult, and the scores reflect that reality. The companies that do score above 5.0 are doing something meaningfully right.
What are Median Edge and Win Rate?
These are the two components that make up the score, each worth up to 5 points. Median Edge measures the typical daily outperformance - how much better (or worse) the company does compared to its ETF benchmark when the appropriate (Gold or Silver) Miners Max Return system is Bullish. Win Rate measures how often the company beats the ETF benchmark - the percentage of days where the company's return exceeded the ETF's return when the appropriate Miners Max Return system is Bullish. A strong performer tends to beat the ETF benchmark more often than not, and by a meaningful amount when it does.
What is the Fundamental Quality Grade? (FUND)
Every company in our rankings has been pre-screened on fundamental factors including balance sheet strength, the jurisdiction of its operations, ownership structure, and overall growth potential. The grade from A to E tells you where the company sits within that pre-qualified group and it’s shown in the FUND column. It's a separate assessment from the miner score - the score tells you what a company has done in the market, the FUND grade tells you what the company looks like under the hood.
Some people like to use the Fundamental rating as a way of screening companies with the best overall Scores.
What does Insufficient Data mean?
A company needs price data for at least 80% of the buy-signal days in the rolling year to receive a score. If it falls short - usually because it was recently listed or trades very thinly - we show Insufficient Data instead. We'd rather give you no score than a misleading one. The fundamental grade is still shown, since it doesn't depend on price history. As the company accumulates more trading days, it will eventually qualify for a score.
Why are companies grouped into categories?
Because different types of mining companies behave very differently. A major producer with stable cash flows and a junior explorer with a single drill-stage project aren't comparable investments. Grouping them into categories like Gold Majors, Silver Producers, and Gold Juniors lets you compare like with like. Rankings are calculated within each group, so a #1 rank means the top performer in that specific category.
By seeing how many companies within each group are outperforming their benchmark ETF, it gives you a very good indication of which sectors are attracting the most capital flows.
How should I use the Score and Fundamental grade together?
A high score backed by a strong fundamental grade is the most compelling combination - a company that's outperforming and has the business quality to sustain it. A high score with a weak grade warrants caution - the performance might be speculative. A low score with a strong grade might represent an opportunity if the trend is turning positive. Neither number alone tells the full story. Some subscribers prefer to select by grade first and then sort by score. Others lead with score and use the grade as a sanity check. The data supports either approach.
Is a high score a buy signal?
No. The miner score tells you what a company has done over the past year - it's backward-looking by design. A high score means the company has a strong track record of outperforming the ETF during our system's buy windows. That's useful information, but it's not a guarantee of future performance. The rankings are designed to work alongside our sector-level signals - when the system says it's time to be in gold miners, the score helps you decide which gold miners are strongest. The same applies when the system says it’s time to be in silver miners.
Does a positive trend mean the stock price is rising?
Not necessarily, and this catches people out. The trend is a way of tracking how each company’s overall score is moving over the past couple of months. A positive trend means the company is performing better relative to the ETF than it was 60 days ago. A stock can be falling and still show a positive trend if it's falling less than the sector. A stock can be rising sharply and show a negative trend if the ETF is rising even faster. Trend is always relative, never absolute.
What do the trend indicators mean?
The trend compares a company's relative performance now against its relative performance 60 days ago. Is its score going up, down or stable? A positive trend (+ or ++) means the company is gaining ground against the ETF. A negative trend (- or --) means it's losing ground. A flat trend (=) means nothing has changed. It's a directional indicator - the score tells you where a company stands, the trend tells you which way it's heading.
What does an E grade mean - is that a bad company?
Not necessarily. Every company in the rankings passed our initial fundamental screening process. An E grade means the company ranks at the bottom of an above-average pool - it met the minimum quality bar for inclusion, but it doesn't stand out on fundamental metrics the way an A or B company does. Think of it as the difference between good and great, not good and bad.
What do the Tickers represent?
The ticker shows a company’s primary stock ticker which the system is using. Many larger mining companies may be listed on more than one exchange or in more than one country. Generally, the tickers that don’t have a suffix (i.e. NEM) are US-listed. ‘V’ is the Canadian TSX Venture exchange, ‘TO‘ is the Toronto Stock Exchange and ‘L’ is London.