Introducing: AAII’s Stock Madness 2026!
16 stocks. 1 champion. Do you have what it takes to pick the winner of this year's AAII Stock Bracket Challenge?
It’s March! The time of spring break, spring blooms, and, most importantly, buzzer beaters. In honor of March Madness, we’re launching our very first stock bracket competition, with prizes that can change your investing success for years to come.
AAII is turning the thrill of stock picking and analyzing into a bracket-style showdown where 16 contenders battle it out round-after-round to win Stock Madness 2026!
So, do you have what it takes to crown the stock market champion?
The free-to-enter AAII Stock Bracket Challenge seeds stocks based AAII follower count with winners based on performance.
Brackets close Wednesday, March 25 – lock in your picks for a chance to win a free lifetime subscription to AAII Platinum!
How It Works
Submit your bracket before Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Each week, stocks advance or get eliminated based on returns
We’ll send weekly email updates, plus you can check the AAII Stock Bracket Challenge leaderboard
The last stock standing on April 22 takes the title of AAII Stock Bracket Champion
Tip #1: Before filling out your bracket, run your stocks through A+ Investor’s analysis tools like the A+ Stock Grades Screener to view their A-F grades. Try it for just $2.
Why Enter AAII’s Stock Bracket Challenge
First off, it’s FREE. Second, bragging rights are great, but let’s be honest, you’re also here for the prizes.
The champion of our AAII Stock Bracket gets AAII Platinum for Life (valued at $1,493 annually), which is our ultimate investor toolkit with 8 model portfolios, 8 stock watchlists, A+ Investor’s stock, ETF and fund tools, 2 premium analyzers, 7 newsletters and a Platinum Dashboard.
But we can’t forget our 2nd and 3rd runner ups.
1st Place Champion: AAII Platinum for LIFE
2nd Place Contender: 3-year AAII Platinum subscription FREE
3rd Place Runner Up: 1-year AAII Platinum on us
And even if your bracket goes up in flames during week one, it’s the one time you can cheer for your portfolio like it’s the Final Four. Start filling out your bracket now.
Our 16 Stock “Teams”
You’re probably wondering who are contenders are for this year’s AAII Stock Bracket Challenge.
Our list of 16 stocks are seeded 1–16 based on AAII member popularity — specifically, how many AAII members have added the stock to their watchlists or portfolios. The #1 seed is the most-followed stock among AAII members.
We’ve got a little bit of everything from high-growth innovators and volatility-fighting defenders, to cornerstone staples of the U.S. economy. Each brings a different edge … but which one will come out on top in April?
Submit your bracket, challenge your friends and check back each week to see whether there’s a Cinderella trying to take the crown.
The stock that racks up the bigger return over the round moves on. If there’s a tie, the one with the stronger track record from earlier rounds takes the win and in Round 1, the higher-seeded stock gets the edge.
How to Pick Your Winners
Everyone wants an edge when it comes to winning a challenge like this. While we can’t give you a crystal ball, A+ Investor might be the next best thing.
With powerful tools rooted in objective, fundamental analysis, A+ Investor helps take the guesswork (and bias) out of your picks. You can quickly evaluate stocks, see which ones pass proven screening strategies and spot potential standouts, or avoid the duds altogether.
If you’re looking to build a smarter bracket (and maybe even win it all) this is your secret weapon. Just take a look to see what kinds of tools A+ Investor can offer you during our investor challenge:
A-F Stock Grades: Compare stocks across Growth, Value, Momentum, Quality and EPS Revisions with AAII’s proprietary grading system.
Stock Evaluator Pages: Get a full picture of each stock’s fundamentals at a quick glance without all the ads and fluff on other sites.
Custom Stock Screener: Apply your own filters and criteria to pinpoint strong contenders.
A+ Stock Grades Screener: Quickly find stocks that earn top marks in key categories like Value, Momentum, Growth and Quality.
Guru and Factor Stock Screens: See which stocks already align with top strategies used by industry-leading investors like Warren Buffett, David Dreman and Peter Lynch, or filter using approaches like Dogs of the Dow, P/E Relative or Return on Equity.
If you sign up for a one-month trial subscription to A+ Investor, you can use the full array of tools to choose your winners from our list of 16 “teams”.
It’ll almost feel like having “insider intel” as you build your bracket.
Only $2 for an ENTIRE MONTH of extra tools and resources to help you make smarter stock choices.
You’ll have plenty of time to put A+ Investor’s features to work during AAII Stock Madness 2026 to choose your bracket, and once your trial wraps up, we think you’ll want to keep them in your lineup.
After all, by then you’ll know exactly how these tools work and how they can help you pick winners, not just for your bracket, but for your real portfolio all year long.
Compete Against Friends
Why keep all the fun to yourself? Challenge your friends to fill out their own brackets and see who really knows their stocks.
Compare picks, trade playful trash talk, and of course, track each other on the leaderboard as the rounds unfold.
Important Deadline! Wednesday, March 25
You only have the next few days to peruse the list of 16 stocks and build your winning bracket.
Remember, each stock you pick will face off in a single-elimination bracket over the four weeks.
Pick a winner for each matchup before the tournament begins, and the stock with the higher return in each round advances.
As your picks win, you earn points that increase each round, making later picks more valuable.
The ultimate goal is to rack up the most points and correctly predict the champion, plus its total % gain, to win the tiebreaker. We’ll wrap up the competition with our championship during the week of April 16–22, so be sure to follow along each week to see who comes out on top.
Are you ready to play against some of the brightest minds in the AAII investor member base?
It’s game time. May the best bracket win!