GoldBuzz INSIDER
GOLD MINERS: SYSTEMS GUIDE

Gold Miners (GDX) - Min Risk Strategy

A defensive strategy that only enters gold miners when established trends are confirmed across multiple timeframes.

How This System Thinks

This system was built to trade gold mining stocks and the results quoted below are based on using the signals to trade GDX, the VanEck gold mining ETF, which is the world’s largest gold mining ETF.

Gold miners can destroy capital faster than almost any other mainstream investment. An 81% drawdown isn’t a theoretical risk - it’s what actually happened to GDX buy-and-hold investors. This system was designed with a single priority: avoid being invested during those catastrophic declines.

It reads the sector on two timeframes. A weekly signal tracks the established trend direction - whether miners are in a genuine uptrend or just bouncing. A monthly signal provides a slower, smoothed reading that filters out the false starts and whipsaws that plague the mining sector.

The system only invests when both timeframes confirm an uptrend. This dual requirement means it’s in the market just 27% of the time, ignoring the choppy sideways markets, the bear market rallies, and the short-lived spikes. When it does enter, it’s because conditions on every timeframe it monitors are pointing up.

Performance (2010–2025)

The raw CAGR of 6.7% modestly exceeds buy-and-hold’s 4.7%. But the exposure-adjusted CAGR of 24.8% reveals the real story - per unit of time invested, this system generates more than five times the return of buy-and-hold.

The drawdown reduction is transformative. From 81% for buy-and-hold to 36% for this system. That’s the difference between a devastating, potentially unrecoverable loss and a tough but manageable decline. Your capital spends 73% of its time in cash, completely shielded from the mining sector’s notorious volatility.

Trading Profile

What To Expect

This system is extremely patient. Roughly one trade per year, with positions lasting about 51 days. The longest idle period exceeds three years - the most of any GoldBuzz system.

That patience demands discipline. You will watch gold miners rally while this system sits in cash, waiting for confirmation that won’t come during false starts. The reward is a fundamentally safer way to access one of the most volatile sectors in the market.

Taking it Further: The GoldBuzz INSIDER Portfolio

The Gold Miners signals tell you when the sector is a good place to be invested. The INSIDER Portfolio takes it a step further by selecting specific miners to own while a signal is Bullish, rather than investing in GDX as a whole.

Each week, the Portfolio applies a systematic process to the 230+ gold miners we track, filtering for those with rising price performance and strong fundamentals, then ranking the survivors to pick up to 20 holdings. It rebalances every Monday and follows the Gold Miners signals - moving to cash when the signals turn bearish.

Performance (2020-2025)

From 2020 through 2025, $10,000 invested in the Portfolio following the Max Return signal grew to $199,000. The same starting stake grew to $80,000 following Min Risk, and to $31,500 in a GDX buy-and-hold position. Worst drawdowns over that period were -39%, -24%, and -49.8% respectively.

What To Expect

The Portfolio is the most hands-on product in INSIDER - it requires weekly attention to execute each Monday's rebalance. If that suits you, the Portfolio is where the Gold Miners signals translate most directly into results. If weekly trading doesn't suit your approach, you can still use the Gold Miners signals to time a GDX position, or use the Miner Rankings to pick stocks on your own schedule.

View the INSIDER Portfolio →

Gold Miners (GDX) - Max Return Strategy

An aggressive strategy that captures both major recovery phases and short-term momentum in gold mining stocks.

How This System Thinks

Gold miners are leveraged plays on gold - they amplify both the upside and the downside. A 20% move in gold can produce a 50% move in mining stocks. This system was built to harness that leverage while managing its risks.

Our research found two patterns that reliably precede significant moves in the gold mining sector. The first is a long-term recovery signal - a monthly pattern that detects when the sector is emerging from a major downturn. Mining stocks tend to produce their most explosive gains coming off a bottom, and this signal identifies those turning points. The second is a daily momentum signal that catches shorter-term trends within the sector.

The system responds to whichever pattern appears first. If the monthly recovery signal is flashing or if daily momentum is building, it gets invested. This keeps the system in the market 75% of the time, ensuring it captures both the major cyclical recoveries and the shorter momentum-driven rallies.

Performance (2010–2025)

A 13.0% annualised return versus buy-and-hold’s 4.7% - nearly three times the passive return. Gold miners have been one of the most difficult buy-and-hold investments of the past 15 years, with a catastrophic 81% drawdown that took years to recover from. This system cut that worst drawdown to 49% - still substantial, but far more survivable.

The sector’s brutal volatility is precisely why an active approach matters. Buy-and-hold investors in gold miners have endured gut-wrenching losses for a meagre 4.7% annual return. This system delivers nearly triple that return while significantly reducing the pain.

Trading Profile

What To Expect

The system averages 3.5 trades per year with positions lasting about 55 days. The longest idle stretch is just over two months, meaning you’re rarely on the sidelines for long.

Gold miners will always be volatile. Even with this system, expect drawdowns that would be unusual in less leveraged markets. The system’s value isn’t in eliminating volatility - it’s in avoiding the sector’s worst declines while capturing the rallies that make miners worth owning.

As an INSIDER member, you receive the Min Risk and Max Return signals for all five markets (Gold, Silver, Gold Miners, Silver Miners, and Bitcoin), updated daily before market open. Membership also includes daily market commentary, full rankings of 230+ mining stocks, and the systematic gold miner portfolio. INSIDER is the most comprehensive way to ride the precious metals bull market with the risk management built in.