The absolute safest way to invest is to identify a stock that has promising short-term signal ratings AND stronger long-term signal ratings. Nothing beats that! However, the long-term and short-term signals can be at odds.

To get the most out of the Prospero signals, what matters most is defining your goal for how you intend to use these signals. For example, are you a trader that wants to ride a trend for a few weeks and then get out of the trade? Or are you an investor who wants to buy-and-hold for many years and simply wants to find a great stock to invest in? Whatever your goal is, Prospero has you covered with our signals.

Let’s start with long-term investing, which happens to be the safest form of investment. Buying and holding a diversified portfolio of strong stocks for years versus weeks, or even months, is the safest approach for a retail investor. While maintenance is important to keep up with market shifts, generally speaking, a well-diversified portfolio will weather the storms and help to grow wealth.

Prospero’s proprietary long-term signals are meant to predict the performance of a stock or ETF over a time period of 6 months to 2 years. That said, we have optimized our signals to 1 year. The signal scores for a stock help you compare it respectively to other stocks, with ratings of 80 and above considered high and 20 and below considered low.

Prospero's Long-Term signals include:

• Upside Breakout - Rates stocks on their potential to see a big increase in their price.
• Downside Breakout - Rates stocks on their potential to see a big decrease in their price.
• Profitability - Rates stocks on their potential for strong financial performance.
• Market Similarity - Rates stocks on how closely they mirror the S&P 500.
• Growth - Rates a stock by its potential for increases in its revenue or size.

For guidance on how to apply these signals, check out the Prospero.ai investing newsletter. Newsletter stock picks have beaten the S&P 500 by over 50% the last 3 years.

The best possible combination of signals for long-term investments are stocks with low Downside Breakout and high Upside Breakout, high Profitability and Growth ratings. While investing always carries risk, this combination of signals can help filter investments that appear to carry the least amount of risk.

Using Market Similarity, which tracks how closely a stock’s performance mirrors the movement of the S&P 500 index, is tricky for long-term investments. Market Similarity does not distinguish between the direction of a stock’s price (up or down), but instead just looks at how close the stock’s price tracks to the index. This means a stock could be rated low Market Similarity and still outperform the S&P 500 at a time when the market is increasing. It could also miss out on any boom in an up-market or crash harder during a down-market. In times when the S&P 500 is declining, a lower Market Similarity is likely to be more desirable for long-term investments.