Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and if you go through them to make a purchase, I’ll earn a commission. I only recommend things I’ve actually used. Whether you buy anything is completely up to you.
Predictive Alpha is TradeSmith’s AI stock forecasting service, built around an engine called An-E that projects price direction for 2,334+ stocks and 125 ETFs up to 21 trading days out.
The core strategy is the Top 5 Watchlist, a monthly rotation you check once a month and hold for four weeks. It costs $129 for the first year (and unusually, renews at $129 too) with a 60-day guarantee. Best for active investors who want data-driven entry points. Not built for buy-and-hold investors.
Last Reviewed September 2, 2026
Hey folks, Jenna Lofton here, thanks for stopping by to check out my Predictive Alpha review, the AI stock forecasting service from TradeSmith that Keith Kaplan pitches in that presentation you’ve probably already sat through.
I subscribed and actually went through the members area, the Top 5 rotation strategy, the risk management playbook, all of it. I’m going to walk you through exactly what you get, what the backtested numbers actually mean versus what they sound like they mean, and where to find the “portfolio” if you’re a new member staring at the dashboard like it just personally offended you.
Short version: Predictive Alpha is a real AI forecasting tool, not a vague “our system says buy” newsletter. The An-E engine gives you an actual price target, a projection date, and a historical accuracy score for whatever ticker you type in.
The Top 5 monthly rotation strategy backtests well, over 1,100% since 2020, but that’s a backtest, not an audited live track record, and to TradeSmith’s credit, they actually say so in the fine print instead of hoping you skim past it.
At $129 for the first year, with an unusual perk, it renews at $129 too, not some inflated year-two price, this is worth trying if you’re an active investor comfortable with short-term swings.
The Skinny (Because You’re Probably Skimming)
- An-E is a real forecasting engine, not a vibes-based buy signal. Type a ticker, get a price target, a date, and an accuracy score.
- The renewal price doesn’t jump. $129 first year, $129 every year after. In an industry built on the $49-to-$499 bait and switch, that almost never happens.
- Backtested, not audited. The 1,100%+ figure is a historical simulation, not a real member’s brokerage statement. Treat it accordingly.
- The risk-management materials are unusually honest. There’s a whole section asking you to imagine how you’d feel watching your stake drop 30% before you even subscribe.
- This is not a buy-and-hold service. It’s a monthly rotation strategy for active investors, checked once a month, held for four weeks, repeat.
Predictive Alpha Quick Stats
| Metric | Predictive Alpha (September 2026) |
|---|---|
| Publisher | TradeSmith |
| Presenter / Founder | Keith Kaplan, TradeSmith CEO |
| Lead Analysts | John Jagerson & Wade Hansen, CMT-certified |
| Core Engine | An-E AI, forecasts 2,334+ stocks & 125 ETFs, up to 21 trading days out |
| Core Strategy | Top 5 Watchlist, monthly rotation, checked once a month |
| Daily Search Limit | 3 ticker forecasts per day |
| Entry Price | $129 first year |
| Renewal Price | $129/year (does not increase) |
| Regular Price | $499/year |
| Guarantee | 60-day money-back guarantee |
| Backtested Return Since 2020 | Over 1,100% (backtested, not audited live) |
| Backtested Win Rate | 63-75%, depending on start day |
| Max Drawdown (Backtest) | 36.9%, measured at monthly rebalance |
✓ Best For
- Active investors who want data-driven entry and exit points
- Anyone who prefers a monthly routine over daily market-watching
- Investors comfortable with a real backtested max drawdown near 37%
- People who want to run their own forecasts on stocks they already own
✗ Not For
- Buy-and-hold, set-it-and-forget-it investors
- Anyone who’d panic-sell during a 20-30% dip
- Heavy researchers who need more than 3 forecasts a day
- Anyone treating a backtest as a guarantee
Who’s Actually Behind Predictive Alpha?
There are a few different faces on this service, and it’s worth knowing which one does what before you subscribe.
Keith Kaplan is the CEO of TradeSmith and the guy in the sales presentation talking about a coming divide between people who use AI and people AI replaces. He’s the pitchman, and a competent one at that, but a pitchman nonetheless. He built TradeStops, TradeSmith’s risk-management software, before this, so his background is actually in financial technology, not the usual newsletter-guy origin story of “I had a hunch and a webcam.”
John Jagerson and Wade Hansen are the CMT-certified analysts who actually run Predictive Alpha day to day. They write the FAQ, host the weekly video updates every Wednesday around 3pm ET, and just launched a new monthly newsletter on July 3rd covering bigger-picture AI investment themes. If you’re still getting value out of this service six months from now, it’s because of these two quietly doing their jobs, not because of the guy in the launch video with the ominous music.
CMT-Certified Analysts Actually Running the Show
John Jagerson and Wade Hansen hold the Chartered Market Technician designation, a real, tested credential in technical analysis. Kaplan sells the vision, Jagerson and Hansen run the actual strategy, which is a more common split in this industry than most sales pages let on.
What Is Predictive Alpha, Actually?
I joined, so I can show you!
At the center of everything is An-E, TradeSmith’s AI forecasting engine. Type in a ticker, and it gives you a projected price target, a specific “Prime Projection Date” up to 21 trading days out, and a Historical Directional Accuracy score for that stock.
Here’s what that actually looks like in practice. Say you run Teradyne. The system might tell you it expects the stock to move 12.82% to a target of $494.07 by a specific date a few weeks out, with a historical accuracy of 76.56% on past forecasts for that same ticker. That’s a more specific output than most “AI-powered” newsletters give you, which tend to just say “our algorithm likes this one” and then vanish before you can ask a follow-up question.
You get three of these forecasts per day, on any of 2,334 stocks and 125 ETFs. That’s the tool. What you do with the number is up to you, buy, sell, hold, or run it through your own strategy entirely.
What “Historical Directional Accuracy” Actually Means
This term gets thrown around a lot, so it’s worth being precise about it. It measures whether the stock closed above or below today’s price on that one specific target date, nothing else.
If a stock rallies hard mid-window, technically hits the projected target, and then reverses back down below today’s price by the actual target date, that counts as a miss on directional accuracy, even though the price target itself got touched along the way.
It’s a stricter, more honest metric than it sounds, and I appreciate that TradeSmith didn&#