AI tools are proliferating at break neck speed. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok lead the pack, while new models seem to launch weekly. Yet for investors, raw access to these tools means little. The real difference between mediocre and exceptional results comes down to one skill: prompt engineering.

I recently spent a Sunday afternoon working through Google’s free AI Essentials course. The biggest takeaway wasn’t the technology itself: it was a simple framework called “PTCF” that turns average AI outputs into consistently strong ones. PTCF stands for Persona, Task, Context, and Format.

Used together, these four elements act like a built-in editor, forcing the model to deliver focused, relevant, and usable answers instead of generic fluff.

Here’s how it works:

The better and more specific your inputs — especially the context — the stronger the output, particularly when the model can draw on good, up-to-date data.

I built the following prompt using Grok (my go-to for quick, no-nonsense analysis). You can copy and paste it for any Canadian-listed company:

This single prompt turns a general-purpose AI into a focused small-cap research assistant. The Persona keeps it realistic and risk-aware. The Context narrows the lens to exactly what matters for junior miners, tech, or biotech names on the TSX-V. And the strict Format prevents the AI from wandering into 10-paragraph essays.

Small-cap stocks are information-scarce, management-heavy, and often volatile. Generic prompts produce generic answers that miss the nuance. A well-engineered prompt like the one above forces the AI to prioritize the factors that actually move these stocks — especially management quality and execution risk. That said, even the best prompt has limits. AI can summarize SEDAR filings and spot obvious red flags, but it still struggles with forward-looking judgment, subtle governance issues, or the “soft” signals that separate great management teams from the rest.

In the end, the timeless small-cap mantra still holds: Management! Management! Management! Prompts are a powerful lever — but they remain a tool, not a replacement for your own critical thinking and due diligence.

Pick a Canadian small-cap you’re watching, drop the prompt into your favorite model, and see what comes out. Share your results (or your best prompt tweaks) in the Comments Section — I’ll highlight the most interesting ones in next month’s STOCK TAKE.

There I’ll show how to use AI to surface promising small-cap ideas worth feeding into this evaluation prompt in the first place. So stay tuned!

** Not financial advice. Always do your own research. **

Dean Stuart IR/BD

Get Informed, Stay Ahead

Exclusive Preview — SAMPEDE’26

TS30 multibagger : EPL — Eagle Plains Partner Refined Energy Completes Drill Program at Dufferin West. _{Read more}

TS30 multibagger : SIG — Sitka Gold Confirms Significant Tungsten Mineralization within the Rhosgobel Gold Deposit, Including 128.0 Metres of 0.115% Wo3, at its RC Gold Project. _{Read more}

TS30 multibagger : KDK — Kodiak Announces 2026 Exploration Plans and Drill Targets for the MPD Copper-Gold Project. _{Read more}

PTX — PTX Metals Announces Increase in Size of Its Private Placement Offerings. _{Read more}

SCRI — Silver Crown closes $4.5M private placement at premium to market with investors including Michael Gentile. _{Read more}

STND — Standard Uranium Executes Exploration Agreement with Kineepik Métis Local Inc. _{Read more}

DMCU — Domestic Metals Announces Closing of Final Tranche of Private Placement and Announces $7.0 million Financing. _{Read more}

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STUD — Stallion Uranium Reports Serious Injury Incident Involving Two Contractors at Moonlite Project. _{Read more}

Well,

I think the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) has made a wrong turn, again. They recently approved “predictive market betting” in Canada through investment dealers. Basically, predictive market betting is a contract based on the outcome of future events.

Currently, authorized investment dealers are allowed to offer contracts based on economic outcomes. Will the Bank of Canada raise rates at their next meeting, or will Carney go to Washington to discuss tariffs in May, etc.?

Contracts are either “Yes” or “No” and amounts are typically a $1/contract. The term to maturity of the contract needs to be at least 30 days. You can buy a contract the day before they expire but the contract has to have been outstanding for 30 days to give participants time to do analysis.

Modern Predictive Market betting started in the U.S. but has been around for hundreds of years. I’m sure most have heard of Polymarket. The market has grown significantly to the multi-billions of dollars, so it’s not a surprise Canadian companies want to get in on the action.

Proponents of predictive market betting believe it offers investors a hedging tool. You have an equity portfolio that will be adversely affected by a rise in rates, so you buy “Yes” contracts to the “Will Canada raise interest rates at their next meeting?”. Supposedly, if rates do go up your contract pays off to cover any loss in portfolio value.

Because of its short-term binary outcome, predictive market betting can be argued that it is essentially gambling. Like gambling, you are betting money on a single event to happen in the short term. You win, or you lose. With investing, you are buying assets with the expectation of generating profit and growing wealth over a period.

In a nutshell, Canadian equity markets have enough problems. The perceived benefit of considering predictive market betting being an investment tool is weak. There already exist tools for investors to hedge their portfolio. The characteristics of predictive market betting certainly favor the gambling category and better handled through provincial gaming authorities.

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If you’re ever having a brew along Stephen Avenue in Calgary pop into Local and join the critical thinking group. I hear the $4 Local lager is great. I’ll be the guy wearing the bag.

TS30 MULTIBAGGERS — select updates

BYN — Banyan Gold Continues to Intersect High-Grade Gold in Powerline, AurMac Deposit, Yukon. _{Read more}

ARG — Amerigo Reports Strong Q1-2026 Operational Results & Declares Cdn$0.16 per share Performance Dividend. _{Read more}

BAC — Bactech Files Zero Tailings™ Patent in Canada and the United States, Converting Mining Waste into Fertilizer, Critical… _{Read more}

MTH — Mammoth receives update drill quote illustrating low US$1.70 per gold equivalent ounce cost… _{Read more}

TOC — Tocvan mobilizes heavy equipment at Gran Pilar to accelerate trenching and mine works. _{Read more}

ASTR — Astra drills 500 g/t Silver and 1.46 g/t Gold Over 2.3 metres – Extends West Feeder Along Strike at La Manchuria Project. _{Read more}

YES — CHAR Tech Announces Planned Acquisition of Biocarbon Assets in Québec, Including 62,500 Tonne Offtake, Facility and IP. _{Read more}

MGRO — MustGrow to Close NexusBioAg Canadian Distribution Arm to Focus on TerraSante™ Sales Growth in U.S. _{Read more}

ROCK — Trident Announces Option Agreement to Acquire Strategic Claims adjoining the Contact Lake Gold Project from… _{Read more}

The view from a terrace on the outskirts of old Colchis, or strolling along the Panama Canal, offers more than just a sunset. It offers an escape from consensus blindness in the West. While legacy media remains perplexed by symptoms of decay, the structural reality is that the Westphalian order (the “rulebook” post-WW2 that segued into the hegemonic post-CW present) isn't just fraying—it’s being liquidated.

Amongst the high stakes flows of global capital, sepia-tinged sentiment can be a serious liability. Loyalty to a failing system is a sunk cost. Welcome to the Era of Individual Realpolitik, where survival isn't about hope — it’s about positioning.

The Continent is experiencing what used to, irony aside, be termed "Finlandization" in real-time. NATO has become a digital ghost—a collection of flags in search of a spine. As Russia strengthens its grip on the energy tap, the Old World faces a grim choice: industrial irrelevance or a quiet slide into Warsaw Pact 2.0.

This time without the tanks. Why bother, when strings pulled from Moscow have the rump of the old Atlantic alliance jumping or whimpering in turns. When a real power controls the BTU-density of your economy from a shut-off valve, "sovereignty" becomes a polite fiction.

For the investor, the takeaway is clear: Europe is no longer a growth engine. It is a very fancy, but fading museum. The center of gravity has moved far afield.

The US/Israel—Iran conflict has matured from regional skirmish into a structural energy shock. While WTI yoyos, the underlying curve is screaming. Closure of Hormuz was a masterclass in Kissingerian leverage—a reminder that a few strategic miles can threaten the global machine.

For the juniors, this is the great sorting: in a $100+ oil environment, a 5g/t gold deposit in a logistics nightmare location is a liability. Whither high margin, reliable bastions like NV/SK? These aren't just top shelf jurisdictions, they’re redoubts where the "Sovereign Subscription" actually provides a service.

Whether you’re a Gen-Z nomad or Boomer shepherding a family trust, the mandate is identical: Unbundle or be liquidated.

Jurisdictional arbitrage is the realization that a passport is a service contract, not a religious identity. If the service is poor, you cancel the subscription.

History doesn’t repeat, but rhymes with the thud of falling empires.

2069 years ago the Roman Republic pivoted toward Empire because its institutions could no longer manage the weight of its own success (it grew, shrank and staggered on for 1400 years). 100 years ago the British Empire experienced a flushing sound that grew louder and faster through its final gurgle and plop on the Pearl River Delta in 1997 (500 years start to finish).

Today, as Pax Americana blurs into a multipolar matzo ball, the Individual must learn to act as their own Secretary of State, Treasury, and Defence. Don't wait for "order" to be restored by the old powers. Create your own sanctuary via the strategic allocation of human and financial capital.

—

This "Random Walk" is picking up pace as the exits narrow. Pack light, stay mobile, and (prepare to) Go Where You Are Valued Best ^SM

FEATURE
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TAKESTOCK Media spotlights emerging cleantech leaders like Hybrid Power Solutions, where innovation meets real-world industrial needs for a greener future.

Visit hybridps.ca for more information.

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