Edge and the ladder: how Sharpe ranks a trader
Every ranked trader on Sharpe has a tier and an Edge. The tier says where they stand at a glance, from Iron up to Master and the Challenger seats above it, and Edge is the number inside it. Both measure one thing: how far a trader's record beat holding Bitcoin, once luck is allowed for.
Key takeaways
- Edge measures a trader's lead over holding Bitcoin, discounted by how much evidence the record has. Bigger is better.
- 2,000 Edge is the Bitcoin line. A record at or above it beat holding Bitcoin by more than half its own uncertainty.
- Each tier below Master spans 500 Edge. Challenger is a set of seats, 1% of ranked traders, held by the strongest Masters.
- A record is ranked once it has 25 scored days, $50 at work on a typical day and a price for 60% of what it trades.
Where Edge comes from
Each day of a trader's last 90, Sharpe compares the record's return with Bitcoin's return on the same day. The average of those daily differences, divided by how much they swing, is an information ratio against Bitcoin. That ratio is discounted by half its own standard error, so that a short or lucky record counts for less, and annualised. The result is placed on the ladder as Edge. The methodology gives every equation.
The ladder
Table 1. The tiers.
| Tier | Edge from | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Challenger | seats | the strongest Masters, 1% of ranked traders |
| Master | 3,000 | 1,000 or more above the Bitcoin line |
| Diamond | 2,500 | 500 to 1,000 above the line |
| Platinum | 2,000 | on the line, up to 500 above it |
| Gold | 1,500 | up to 500 below the line |
| Silver | 1,000 | 500 to 1,000 below |
| Bronze | 500 | 1,000 to 1,500 below |
| Iron | 0 | more than 1,500 below |
Each tier below Master owns 500 Edge, so the number alone says the tier: 2,140 is Platinum and 1,860 is Gold. From Master upward there is no ceiling. The ladder is absolute. A trader's tier depends on their own days and no one else's, so anyone can reach any tier, and only Challenger is contested.
The Bitcoin line
Edge 2,000 is the line that matters most. A record at or above it finished its scored days ahead of holding Bitcoin, by enough that the lead clears half its own uncertainty. A record that compounded to less than Bitcoin over its days is held below the line, whatever else its numbers say.
What the top asks for
Master asks for more than a number. A Master record needs 80 of its 90 days scored; one with fewer shows its Edge with the title marked as pending, and the days it still needs. A Diamond or Master record that held the same tier in its previous window is marked as two windows running, because one window at the top is something luck can produce.
Diamond and Master records that go idle lose Edge. Each banks idle days while active, Diamond more than Master, and once the bank is empty the record loses Edge each day until it trades or holds again. The loss stops at the top of Platinum. Holding a position counts as activity. A trade every day is never required.
Challenger is a number of seats rather than a score: 1% of ranked traders, rounded down, so a small board has none. The seats go to Masters that have their 80 days and whose lead over Bitcoin clears a strict 95% test, highest Edge first, and they are decided again each time the board is recalculated. Where one trader runs several wallets together, only the strongest can take a seat.
Getting on the ladder
A record is placed once it can be measured well enough to rank. It needs 25 scored days, at least $50 at work on a typical day, and a market price for at least 60% of the value it trades. A record that has not met these is shown as not on the board yet, with the reason. That is a different thing from ranking low, and it is never shown as one.
How Edge moves
Edge is not awarded day by day. Each day the whole 90-day window is scored again, with one day entering and the oldest leaving. Above Iron, half of all overnight moves we measured were under 62 Edge and nine in ten were under 321. As a rule of thumb, a day one standard deviation better than the trader's own average adds about 200 Edge, and the day takes it back when it leaves the window 90 days later.
Beside every rank sits its Confidence, the probability that the record's true lead over Bitcoin is above zero. Edge says how far ahead a record is; Confidence says how sure anyone can be. Paste any Solana or Ethereum wallet into Sharpe to see both.