What the levels mean
| Level | What it is | The bar it clears |
|---|---|---|
| E0 | Primary data — raw market data, verified trade records | Original source, no interpretation layer |
| E1 | Published research, peer-reviewed papers, official statistics, regulatory filings | Citable, verifiable, institutional |
| E2 | Multiple independent sources confirm the claim | Cross-referenced, reproducible |
| E3 | A single credible source, or well-reasoned analysis | One source, limitation acknowledged |
| E4 | Personal experience, interpreted data, extrapolation | Labeled as interpretation |
| E5 | Speculation, anecdote, unverified claim | Clearly flagged as unverified |
The scale runs from strong to weak: E0 is the highest-quality evidence, E5 the lowest. A claim's level is the floor of the evidence that supports it, not the ceiling of how confident the author feels.
Why a wiki about trading needs this
Most trading content collapses the distance between "I have a verified track record" and "this worked for me twice." It presents both with the same confidence, the same clean chart, the same certainty. That collapse is where most retail traders get hurt — not because the claim was false, but because they could not see how thin the evidence was.
Evidence levels force the distance back open. When you read an entry here, you see the level before you read the argument. An E1 claim grounded in a peer-reviewed paper and an E4 claim grounded in one trader's experience are both allowed to exist. They are simply not allowed to look the same.
This is also a discipline for the author. Attaching a level means you have to ask, before you publish: what actually backs this? Often the honest answer is lower than the answer you wanted. That gap is the most useful thing on the page.
How to read a level
A high level is not a verdict of importance. Some of the most useful ideas in markets sit at E3 or E4 — they are judgment, not proof, and they are labeled that way so you can weigh them as judgment. A low level is not a dismissal. It is an invitation to verify, to push back, to bring a better source. That is what the community notes and the flag system are for.
The rule underneath all of it: no claim should be more confident than its evidence. The level is how we keep that promise visible on every single page.