So the trade thread had me thinking of ways to help address trade abuse that didn't include a trade meter restriction. One idea would be the implementation of an 'Ask an Expert' section, either as an 'opt-in' live chat or sub-forum. If you choose to opt-in (or maybe at JDB's discretion), it would pop up yellow the same way the standard forums do now whenever there's a new question.

All users in their first 3 (or however many) months would have a prominent 'Ask an Expert' link for all trades they receive. Clicking the link would send them to the AaE section, automatically including a unique generated link in their post/message that would show the proposed trade for anyone who is subscribed/opted-in/allowed to that forum.

After the allotted months have passed, users could turn on/off the 'Ask an Expert' link showing up (like the hide spoilers toggle), however, whenever a trade offer was below the current trade meter's accepted values (whose values would be completely hidden in this model), it would include a warning message to the user at the top that it may be an unbalanced trade offer, with a link to the 'Ask an Expert' section below.