Paragon Academy crest

Pass your evaluation.
Keep the funded account.
Keep taking payouts.

Paragon Academy coaches funded-account candidates through prop firm evaluations with a structured risk framework, disciplined trade execution, and weekly accountability. Six-week, intensive cohorts run throughout the year for traders already inside an assessment, guiding them through to the funded phase. Because 60–70% of account breaches come from drawdown triggers — not a bad thesis — we've built tools and strategies to stop that from being the reason an account gets blown.

FTMO · TOPSTEP · PARAGON FUNDED TRADER · AND OTHER CHALLENGE-BASED FIRMS
NEXT COHORT BEGINS OCTOBER 5

The pattern

One oversized trade ends most evaluations — not a bad thesis.

Candidates study entries for months and size positions by feel. A single trade against a daily or max drawdown limit erases weeks of correct calls. Paragon doesn't teach a new strategy. It fixes the one number that actually decides pass or fail: how much you're allowed to risk on the next trade.

1
fixed risk rule, applied to every trade in the challenge
÷ 7.5
default buffer divisor — adjustable to your firm's rules
24h
feedback turnaround on trade journal reviews

Why coaching, not another strategy

The data says the same thing the failed evaluations do.

Across the industry, most retail traders lose money, and most evaluation failures aren't a strategy problem — they're a risk-management problem. That's the gap coaching closes.

70–97%
of retail traders lose money over time, across markets and account types
60–70%
of failed evaluations are drawdown breaches — not missed profit targets
~7%
of challenge buyers, industry-wide, ever receive a funded payout

Sources: Barber & Odean (UC Davis) multi-year studies of active day traders; India SEBI FY2022–FY2024 retail F&O data; FPFX Technology dataset of 300,000+ prop firm accounts. Figures are industry-wide averages, not a guarantee of any individual's results.

Inside the program

Six weeks, structured. Built to last beyond it.

Your first six weeks are a structured on-ramp, not a course that ends. Every candidate is held to the same buffer discipline, reviewed weekly against their own account — through the evaluation, into the funded account, and past your first payout request. Passing the evaluation is the entry point, not the goal: after six weeks, you'll have the option to continue on standard monthly access, at the rate tied to your assessment tier, for as long as you want a coach in your corner. You'll get notice two weeks before the cohort ends so you can decide.

  • Weekly risk reviewA live session auditing your buffer discipline against the week's actual trades, not hypotheticals.
  • Trade journal auditsSubmit your journal, get specific feedback on sizing decisions — turned around same-day.
  • Evaluation-specific coachingRules and drawdown structures differ by firm — coaching is calibrated to the challenge you're actually running.
  • Platform fluency, before strategyYour coach walks you through the platform itself — order types, execution behavior, and risk tools — before strategy ever comes up, so the tool never gets in the way of the plan.
  • Every market you're funded to tradeCoaching covers FX pairs, indices, metals, commodities, and crypto — sizing and strategy suited to each, not a one-size-fits-all approach.
  • Coached past the passThe evaluation is the entry point, not the goal. Your coach stays with you through your first payout request — and however far past that you want to take it.
  • Small cohort, not a crowdParagon works with a limited number of candidates per cohort rather than an unlimited roster — cohort seats are capped separately from ongoing Academy enrollment.

Investment

Priced to reward the account you're building toward.

Coaching is billed separately from your assessment, by invoice through Paragon Academy. The bigger the assessment you've purchased, the less your coaching costs — during the cohort and after.

Assessment purchased
6-week cohort
Rolls into (monthly)
No assessment
$699
$469/mo
Under $350
$599
$399/mo
$350–$750
$449
$299/mo
Over $750
$299
$199/mo

What's included: weekly 1-on-1 coaching with your assigned coach, trade journal audits, full curriculum library access, and a custom trading plan built to your account size and strategy.

After week 6: you'll have the option to roll into standard monthly Academy access at the rate above. You'll get notice two weeks before the cohort ends so you can decide.

Cohort seats are limited each month and separate from ongoing Academy enrollment.

Limited-time offer, Paragon Funded Trader

Haven't purchased your assessment yet? Right now, Paragon Funded Trader is running the LEAF promo — a lower assessment cost can also move you into a cheaper coaching tier above.

LEAF40 — 40% off all plans except Instant Funding

LEAF25 — 25% off Instant Funding

Valid through September 30. Offer applies to your Paragon Funded Trader assessment purchase, separate from Academy coaching fees.

Who this is for

Built for candidates repeating the same mistake.

Paragon is for traders currently in — or about to start — a funded evaluation, not for people looking for a new indicator.

  • You're mid-challenge or about to start oneWith FTMO, Topstep, Paragon Funded Trader, or a similar firm.
  • Your losses trace to one trade, not your edgeYou've failed an evaluation before on a single oversized position, not a broken strategy.
  • You'll follow a fixed rule for six weeksParagon isn't for traders who want to override their risk size on conviction.

The Drawdown Buffer Method

Your max risk per trade, recalculated live.

Take your remaining distance to the account's drawdown limit and divide it by a buffer factor. The result is the most you risk on any single trade — tightened automatically as your cushion shrinks. This is the actual tool Paragon candidates use every session.

max risk / trade = (distance to drawdown limit) ÷ buffer divisor
3 (aggressive)12 (conservative)
Max risk on your next trade
$333
Comfortable buffer

This updates as your account's cushion changes — the same number Paragon coaches check with candidates on live review calls, not a one-time calculation.

The coaches

Every coach came up through this first.

Every Paragon Academy coach was promoted from within — either from our original coaching operation or from traders who came up through our own funded program and were coached by us before they coached anyone else. A sample of the team below — not the full roster.

Matthew Stephenson
CEO
26 years trading
Forex/CFD, Futures, Crypto, Equities, Options, Prediction Markets
Freddie Tanner
Coach
17 years trading
Forex/CFD, Futures, Crypto, Equities
Brendon Knowles
Coach
12 years trading
Forex/CFD, Futures, Crypto
Justin Evans
Coach
11 years trading
Forex/CFD, Futures, Crypto, Equities, Options, Prediction Markets
Cory Matthews
Coach
9 years trading
Forex/CFD, Futures, Crypto, Equities, Options, Prediction Markets
Karen Coleman
Coach
8 years trading
Forex/CFD, Futures, Crypto, Equities, Options, Prediction Markets

Verified reviews

What traders say about the coaching.

Real reviews shared by Paragon traders on Trustpilot and our review page — not composites, not paraphrased.

★★★★★

"I have been trading with Paragon Elite Trading for several months, and I am very pleased with the curriculum and mentoring I have received. Matt is an excellent coach and mentor, and does an excellent job teaching and breaking down concepts and strategies. I have improved so much with the 1-on-1 mentoring sessions."

★★★★★

"Paragon is all that is right in the prop firm world. They offer live trading session coaching — it actually establishes a precedent for following through with trading strategy. And you are trading real capital once funded."

Reviews shared by traders in the Paragon community. Individual experiences vary and are not a guarantee of funding, profit, or payout.

Questions

What traders ask before applying.

What happens after the 6-week cohort ends?

You'll get notice two weeks before your cohort ends, and continuing is entirely your decision. Paragon has always billed coaching month-to-month, even after the cohort — which means we have to keep proving the value every month, not lock you into anything longer.

Do you only work with FTMO, Topstep, or Paragon Funded Trader?

No — we can work with a trader in any prop firm evaluation, at any account level. The philosophy and principles behind the Drawdown Buffer Method stay the same regardless of firm; it's just the math — drawdown limits, profit targets, time windows — that changes to match your specific rules.

What's your actual pass rate?

We're careful to separate two different things. Over 6 years, Paragon's coaches proprietary-traded themselves, with rules tailored to each coach's own style — those internal numbers run higher, but they're not a fair comparison to coaching someone else's account.

The number that matters for you: 67% of traders coached by Paragon pass their evaluation on the first attempt, across outside firms' challenges — well above the industry's 15–25% first-attempt range.

"Personally, I can count on one hand the number of my own traders who didn't pass on their first attempt with me. I know their names." — Matt, Founder & Coach

Next step

Apply for the next cohort.

The next cohort begins October 5th. Cohorts are limited. Send your details and the challenge you're running — you'll hear back to schedule a short call before enrollment.

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