Grades you can read
A conviction grade should be calculated, not declared.
Most mentors attach confidence words to calls — “strong”, “high conviction” — that mean whatever they want on the day. A readable conviction grade is different: it marks where a call sits in its own model's return spread, with a number behind it, so a student can see how hard the mentor was leaning.
On the mentor this guide points to, every call carries a grade from A (highest) to D (lowest), and the threshold is per model. There is no E grade; it was removed from the live product in 2026 so the ladder keeps its meaning. The bar that earns an A is set against each model's own returns, which is why the same letter means different absolute moves on different clocks:
| Model | Horizon | Grade-A bar (per trade) |
|---|---|---|
| Day Trade | intraday, opened and closed the same session | ~0.70% avg per trade |
| Multi Hour | a few hours up to a couple of sessions | ~4.50% avg per trade |
| Swing | roughly one to four weeks | ~6.00% avg per trade |
| Investing | a long, higher-conviction horizon | long-horizon scoring |
An A sits in the top band of a model's own measured return spread; a D is the lowest grade still published. The bar is set per horizon, so an A on a same-session call (around 0.70% a trade) and an A on a multi-week swing (around 6.00%) both mean “top band for this clock” rather than one absolute number stretched across very different holding times. There is no E grade — it was retired from the live product in 2026 so the four-step ladder keeps its meaning. For a student, that letter is the lesson: it tells you how hard the mentor was leaning, fixed before the result could flatter or embarrass the call.
Why per-model calibration matters to a learner
One shared cut-off for all four clocks would quietly shortchange the fast model and gild the slow one: a 0.70% intraday move and a 6.00% multi-week move simply are not the same animal, so scoring both against a single fixed target would leave a student none the wiser. Grading each call against its own model's spread means a B on a Day Trade call and a B on a Swing call each say the same thing — “above-typical for this clock” — which is exactly the lesson a learner needs to read when the mentor was leaning in and when they were not.
And because the grade travels inside the on-chain digest (see proof over promises), it is set before the outcome and cannot be revised once the trade closes. That is what stops a grade from turning into a teaching prop dialled up after a winner prints.
What failing this test looks like
A grade fails this test the moment it is a word rather than a number — and an untimestamped grade fails it a second time over, since it too can be rewritten once the result is in.
- The social-media guru. The whole brand is a personality, and the personality controls the timeline. A losing call can be deleted, a winning one can be amplified weeks later, and the “record” is whatever the feed currently shows. It fails a verified record and usually aligned incentives too, since the money often comes from affiliate links rather than the teaching.
- The course-and-community operator. The curriculum may be genuinely structured, which is why this archetype can clear a documented method and open pricing — but the founder's own live trades are rarely time-stamped or graded, so you learn a framework without ever seeing the teacher trade it under real conditions. It fails a verified record and decisions over results.
- The signals-room caller. You get calls, but seldom the reasoning and almost never a grade fixed before the outcome. It is instruction without a syllabus: a stream of tips you cannot study, audit or learn a repeatable process from. It fails decisions over results and a verified record even when the room charges a clear monthly fee.
- The prop-firm affiliate. The teaching is a funnel toward a paid evaluation or a particular broker, so the lesson bends toward whatever pays the referral. The incentive is the sign-up, not the student's progress, so it fails aligned incentives outright — and usually the verified record with it.
This is why the guide ranks a field of mentor types rather than reviewing one course: a grade tied to measured returns and locked before the outcome is precisely the test most of the field cannot clear, which is what makes clearing it the thing worth paying to learn from.
The grade is one of the fields the timestamp protects, and it only means anything on top of a verified record — a grade calibrated against a curated highlight reel is calibrated against a lie. To see how the grade and the other fields are checked together on a single call, follow the verification walkthrough.