Forecast Accuracy

Do the 90% bands hold?

A well-calibrated 90% confidence (CI90) band should contain the realized price about 90% of the time. Whether ours does depends heavily on when you start, so we measure it separately at each quarterly start date and publish every one. Universe: the TOP-20 S&P 500 tickers by market cap.

CI90 coverage by forecast start date, against a 90% target
Start date3 months6 months1 year
31 Mar 202484%92%90%
30 Jun 202487%82%96%
30 Sep 202478%88%90%
31 Dec 202487%75%86%
31 Mar 202580%84%94%
30 Jun 202583%88%90%
30 Sep 202594%71%90%
31 Dec 202595%86%96%
31 Mar 202691%91%90%

We publish no single averaged coverage figure. The quarterly windows overlap at 6 months and 1 year, so averaging the rows would state an accuracy this measurement cannot support, and a confidence interval printed on top of one would be read as a range the price might land in, which it is not. The band held between 78% and 95% at 3 months, between 71% and 92% at 6 months and between 86% and 96% at 1 year. We hold ourselves to a pre-registered [85%, 95%] tolerance around the 90% target — our own tolerance, not an external standard — and several start dates sit outside it in both directions. The worst individual windows: UNH started 30 Jun 2025 (10%), NVDA started 30 Jun 2024 (6%) and NVDA started 31 Dec 2024 (2%). These are coverage figures, not a directional hit-rate.

Educational research only — not investment advice.