Power Gauge Report Review (Feb 2026): Real Member Results

Power Gauge Report Review: My Chaikin Analytics Review (4+ Year Member, February 2026 Update)

Hey folks, Jeff Lenney here. I first subscribed to Marc Chaikin’s Power Gauge Report back in October 2021. Not a free trial. Not a “research-based” review where I rewrote the sales page. I paid for it, I’ve renewed it, and I’ve been watching every single pick come through for over four years now.

Most Power Gauge Report reviews are written by people who’ve never logged in. I have. Below you’ll find real stock performance data, closed trades with actual ticker symbols, and an honest breakdown of what the system gets right and where it falls short.

If you just want the quick version: the service is legit, the screener is the real gem, and the trailing stop-loss has saved me more money than any individual stock pick. But it’s not perfect, and I’ll show you exactly why.

Quick Specs: Is the Power Gauge Report Worth It?

Best for: Active traders, growth investors, self-directed portfolio managers | Not for: Total beginners, passive index investors, day traders

Chaikin Analytics Review: Who is Marc Chaikin?

Marc Chaikin founded Chaikin Analytics and has been around Wall Street for 40+ years. He created the Chaikin Power Gauge system and developed the Chaikin Money Flow indicator that professional traders and money managers use regularly. His stock market analysis has been featured in Forbes and Investors’ Business Daily, and his tools are used by institutional traders.

The thing that actually got my attention: in 2018, Marc and his team rang the NASDAQ opening bell. Nasdaq partnered with him and IndexIQ to bring his Power Gauge rating system to the ETF market. That’s not a participation trophy.

The Nasdaq Chaikin Indexes, powered by the Power Gauge Rating, have outperformed their benchmarks since launching in April 2014. The guy has a real track record, not just marketing claims.

Chaikin Analytics Features: What the Power Gauge Report Offers

Here’s what comes with the investor subscription:

• Monthly newsletters with detailed stock recommendations and Marc’s market analysis
• Access to the Power Pulse System (the computerized stock screener) covering 5,000+ stock and ETF tickers
• Model portfolio updated every Wednesday with buy or sell signals
• AI Power Picks portfolio (bonus picks in specific sectors like AI, with companies poised to double or triple in the next 12 months)
• Daily email alerts with market updates and commentary
• Three research reports: AI Power Picks, Tomorrow’s 10x Power Trends, and Top Stocks to Avoid During the AI Boom
• OptionsPlay integration for options trading strategies on Power Gauge picks
• Mystery bonus ($2,499 value, which… yeah, I still don’t love the mystery angle)
• 30-day money-back guarantee

Current pricing is $149 for the first year (discounted from $499). The renewal is $499/year, which I’ll address in the refund section below because there’s something you need to know about that.

Note: Chaikin Analytics may change their promotional offers and pricing from time to time, so the current deal you see might differ slightly from what I describe here. The core product and stock selection methodology stays the same.

What’s Inside The Power Gauge Report Members Area?

I’m glad you asked. I joined so I can show you!

The Monthly Newsletter and Stock Picks

Every month, Marc sends detailed research reports with his top mid-cap or large-cap stock pick, plus he maintains a model portfolio of his current recommendations. The picks come with detailed reasoning, including fundamental and technical analysis. He walks through the data with fundamental metrics like price to book ratios and financial health indicators, and explains why he thinks it’s a good entry at that moment. It’s not just “buy this ticker.” You get the full thesis with earnings consistency data and his prediction for where the stock is headed.

The big shift in recent years has been the AI focus. Instead of generic tech stocks, Marc’s identifying companies building AI infrastructure in sectors like AI and cloud computing. The research feels targeted rather than trendy, and he’s making specific predictions about which specific sectors will drive significant gains over the coming year.

How I’ve Been Tracking This: My Methodology

I first subscribed in October 2021. Since late 2023, I started systematically logging every pick across both the main Power Gauge Report portfolio and the AI Power Picks portfolio. I tracked entry dates, reference prices, dividends, stop-loss levels, and every sell alert.

The data below comes directly from the Chaikin Analytics members area. I exported the portfolio on February 12, 2026. The returns shown are from Chaikin’s own tracking system.

One important caveat: Chaikin’s portfolio page only shows current open positions. Closed trades disappear from the dashboard. So while I’ve been a member for 4+ years, the detailed entry-to-exit data I can share is limited to the positions I personally tracked. I’m showing you what I can verify with complete records, nothing more.

Performance results shown represent specific case studies from my personal tracking of the Power Gauge Report. Past performance does not guarantee future results. I am not a financial advisor and this is not investment advice.

Real Trades, Real Tickers: Closed AI Power Picks

These positions are done. Subscribers can’t act on them anymore, so I’m sharing the actual tickers so you can verify everything yourself. Try finding this level of detail in any other Power Gauge Report review. (Spoiler: you won’t.)

The breakdown: 3 winners, 2 losers. The winners averaged +66.75% and the losers averaged -7.91%. That’s a small sample (5 trades), and I’m not going to pretend it’s a massive dataset. But the pattern is what matters: the gains significantly outpaced the losses.

The CrowdStrike Trade: Why the Stop-Loss Is the Real MVP

This is the trade that made me a believer in Chaikin’s system for risk management.

CrowdStrike was added on August 3, 2023 at $157.55. By mid-2024, it had run up big, and the 30% trailing stop was ratcheted up accordingly. On July 22, 2024, the stop triggered and subscribers exited at +70.66%.

Here’s the context: on July 19, 2024 (three days before the stop triggered), CrowdStrike caused a massive global IT outage that grounded flights and crashed systems worldwide. The stock cratered. The trailing stop-loss got subscribers out with a 70%+ profit right as things went sideways.

That’s not a marketing story. That’s risk management doing its job. Look up the timeline yourself.

The AECOM Loss: When It Doesn’t Work Out

AECOM (ACM) was added to the AI Power Picks on August 28, 2025 at $125.74. It dropped steadily. The 30% trailing stop triggered on February 12, 2026 at a -29.26% loss.

That stings. No sugar-coating it. But the stop-loss capped the damage. Without it, the position could have fallen further. I’ve followed other newsletter services that have no exit strategy at all, and subscribers end up riding losers to zero. At least here, the system forced a disciplined exit.

The Investing Portfolio: Current Open Positions (February 2026)

I can’t share the specific tickers for open positions (that’s what you’re paying for). But here’s how both portfolios look right now:

Main Model Portfolio (7 open positions):

AI Power Picks (5 current positions):

The honest takeaway: traditional sectors are outperforming the AI picks. That banking stock at +156% has been the top-performing position across both portfolios. The big tech/AI pick at +141% is crushing it too. But the AI portfolio overall is more volatile, with bigger swings in both directions.

If you’re subscribing mainly for the AI picks, know that the results are mixed. The real power of the service lives in the core 20-factor system applied to the main portfolio, which has been more reliable in my experience.

The 30% Trailing Stop-Loss: The Feature Nobody Talks About

This is the most underrated part of the entire service, and I want to spend a minute on it because no other review covers this.

Chaikin uses a 30% trailing stop-loss on all positions, updated every Wednesday. Here’s what I’ve seen watching it work across multiple potential trades:

When it protected gains: CrowdStrike (CRWD) stopped out at +70.66% right before the July 2024 global outage. Adobe (ADBE) stopped out at +52% in June 2024, and the stock has since dropped below that exit price. Both smart exits.

When it capped losses: AECOM (ACM) stopped out at -29.26% on February 12, 2026. Painful, but the bleeding stopped there.

When it was neutral: Zebra Technologies (ZBRA) stopped out at -0.87% in March 2025. Essentially breakeven. Capital preserved.

Marc doesn’t market the stop-loss system heavily. But after watching it work for years, I’d argue it’s the single most valuable feature. It enforces the kind of discipline most retail investors (myself included) struggle with on their own.

The Chaikin Power Gauge Screener: How the Stock Market Tool Works

The computerized stock screening system analyzes 5,000+ stock and ETF tickers using 20 different factors and gives each a stock rating: Bullish, Neutral, or Bearish. You type in any ticker, hit one button, and get a full breakdown across four categories. It gives you insight into both quantitative data and what institutional money is doing, helping with selecting stocks and making informed decisions about potential trades.

Financials

Five factors covering price to book ratios, free cash flow, debt levels, and valuation metrics. These fundamental metrics tell you about a company’s financial health and whether it’s a value trap or a potential investment worth pursuing.

Earnings

Five factors showing current earnings, growth trends, earnings surprises, and earnings consistency. Critical for timing entries and understanding where a stock is headed.

Technicals

Price movements, RSI, momentum, and other technical indicators. This is where market sentiment shows up and where you find the best entry and exit points.

Experts (The Secret Sauce)

This is the Power Gauge indicator that tracks what analysts, short sellers, money managers, and insiders are actually doing with their capital. It includes the Chaikin Money Flow indicator, and after years of watching it, I’m convinced this “Expert” component is the most important of the four categories.

Here’s something I noticed through actual use: the 20 factors aren’t weighted equally. The Expert component acts like a “super-factor” that often overrides weak signals in the other categories. Stocks with mediocre fundamentals but strong Expert ratings tend to outperform. Stocks with great financials but weak Expert signals? Much more hit-or-miss.

That means Chaikin’s system is momentum-weighted. It favors stocks that institutional money is flowing into NOW, not stocks that look good on a spreadsheet. This makes it better for growth-oriented traders than pure value investors.

All 20 factors get boiled down to four simple sliders. Decades of analytical research, visible at a glance. I use this screener more than I use Marc’s specific monthly picks, and honestly, that’s where the real value lives.

The Chaikin Money Flow Power Gauge Indicator

The CMF tracks institutional buying and selling over 21-day periods. Readings above +0.05 signal accumulation (institutions buying), below -0.05 signals distribution (selling). Marc’s prediction system uses this as a core input for stock ratings across the platform.

During the August/September 2024 stock market volatility, the CMF flagged several high-flying tech stocks shifting from “Bullish” to “Neutral” or “Bearish” about 10-14 days before they dropped 8-12%. That early warning and market analysis alone was worth the subscription cost multiple times over.

Watch Out for the EQ Upsell

Marc’s been pushing the Earnings Quality (EQ) feature as the “secret” to finding top stocks. It’s not included in the base subscription. You need the Platinum level or Breakthrough Investor service for that.

Don’t let it distract you. The core 20-factor system is plenty powerful on its own.

The AI-Focused Special Reports

Three research reports come free with the subscription:

Chaikin’s AI Power Picks targets smaller AI companies in specific sectors that aren’t the obvious names. Based on my tracking, this portfolio is more volatile than the main picks. The +141% big tech winner and the -29% infrastructure loss both came from here. High risk, high reward.

Tomorrow’s 10x Power Trends covers broader stock market shifts driven by AI. Infrastructure plays, regulatory changes, supply chain shifts. Some of his predictions have been surprisingly accurate.

Top Stocks to Avoid During the AI Boom is potentially the most useful of the three. Marc identifies overvalued AI stocks, companies slapping “AI” on their business model for publicity, and traditional companies facing disruption. I was actually eyeing one potential investment he flagged, and it dropped significantly after his warning.

OptionsPlay Integration: For Options Traders

One feature worth mentioning is the OptionsPlay integration. If you’re interested in options trading on top of Marc’s stock picks, OptionsPlay provides strategy overlays showing optimal call and put plays based on the Power Gauge stock rating. It’s not a replacement for doing your own options analysis, but it gives you a starting point for potential trades around the core recommendations.

The Refund Policy: Read This Before You Subscribe

The marketing says “30-day money-back guarantee,” and that’s technically true. But here’s what they don’t make obvious: if you don’t manually disable auto-renewal within 30 days, you’ll get charged for the full year at the non-discounted rate ($499).

I’ve seen complaints about this on Trustpilot and the BBB. People got hit with charges they didn’t expect.

Protect yourself:

1. Right after you subscribe, log into your account dashboard
2. Go to “Account Settings” or “Subscription Management”
3. Turn OFF the “Auto-Renewal” toggle
4. You keep full access for your paid period with no surprise charges

If you’re not satisfied within those first 30 days, you can get a full refund. Just make sure to disable auto-renewal on day one regardless, and manually renew later if you want to keep it.

Power Gauge Report: Pros and Cons

Pros:

Top-performing main portfolio pick up 156%, top AI pick up 141%
Closed AI picks: winners averaged +66.75% vs losers averaging -7.91%
30% trailing stop-loss saved subscribers during CrowdStrike’s July 2024 crisis
Early warning signals 10-14 days before 2024 stock market volatility
Power Pulse screener covers 5,000+ stocks and ETFs
40+ years of Wall Street experience behind the methodology
$149 first year with 30-day money-back guarantee

Cons:

Infrastructure stock lost -29.26% even with the stop-loss
AI Power Picks more volatile than the main portfolio
Auto-renewal at $499 if you don’t turn it off manually
Earnings Quality (EQ) feature locked behind expensive upgrade
Learning curve if you’re new to technical indicators
Monthly picks only (not for day traders)
$499/year renewal is steep for casual investors
Mystery bonus still feels gimmicky

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My Bottom Line After 4+ Years

I’ll keep this simple: I’m still subscribed, and I plan to stay subscribed.

The screener is the real value. I use the Power Pulse System to validate my own research more than I follow Marc’s specific monthly picks. Being able to run any stock through a 20-factor analysis in seconds and get an instant stock rating is worth the subscription cost by itself if you’re an active trader managing a portfolio.

The trailing stop-loss system has demonstrably saved me from catastrophic losses (CrowdStrike) and capped downside on losers (AECOM). That discipline is hard to replicate on your own.

The main portfolio picks have been more reliable than the AI Power Picks. If you’re subscribing primarily for AI stock selection ideas, temper your expectations. The core system is where the consistency lives.

At $149 for the first year with a 30-day guarantee, the risk is minimal. Just remember to turn off auto-renewal on day one, and you can always renew manually if you find value in it (I did).

Is it perfect? No. The AI picks are a mixed bag, the EQ upsell is annoying, and the mystery bonus marketing is cheesy. But the core product works, the data backs it up, and after four years I’m still finding value in it. That says more than any review can.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Power Gauge Report worth $499 per year?

For active traders making 10+ trades annually, yes. The screener alone can justify the cost through better entry/exit timing. If you’re a passive investor making one trade per quarter, probably not.

How accurate is the Chaikin Power Gauge stock screener?

Based on 4+ years of use, the 5 fully closed AI Picks positions produced winners averaging +66.75% and losers averaging -7.91%. The main portfolio’s top position gained 156%. The system’s real strength isn’t just picking winners. It’s the combination of the Expert factor (institutional money flow) and the trailing stop-loss that limits your downside.

Can beginners use it?

If you understand basic concepts like P/E ratios, market cap, and what a dividend is, you’ll be fine. If you’re brand new to investing and those terms are foreign, start with index funds first. The interface has a learning curve and Marc doesn’t dumb things down.

Is this good for day trading?

No. The Power Gauge is built for swing trading and position trading (holding 2-12 weeks). The system updates weekly, not intraday. If you want minute-by-minute signals, look elsewhere.

What closed trades can you actually verify?

Five AI Power Picks have fully closed with complete data: Adobe (+52%), IBM (+77.58%), CrowdStrike (+70.66%), Box (-14.94%), and Zebra Technologies (-0.87%). The main portfolio has also rotated positions, but Chaikin’s dashboard only shows open holdings, so those 5 are the ones I can verify with full entry-to-exit records.

What’s the difference between this and other stock market screeners?

The Power Gauge weights institutional money flow (the “Expert” component) more heavily than traditional fundamentals. Most screeners like Finviz or Yahoo Finance focus purely on fundamentals or technicals. The Power Gauge tracks what “smart money” is actually doing, making it momentum-focused rather than value-focused.

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Disclosure

Full transparency: I paid for my own subscription to test and use this service. Some links in this review are affiliate links where I may earn a commission if you subscribe. My opinions are based on my actual experience as a member since October 2021. Review updated February 13, 2026.

Jeff