To maintain a fair and secure trading environment, GOAT Funded Trader applies a set of rules designed to assess disciplined, independent, and risk-managed trading. Violations may result in profit deductions, payout restrictions, account breach, loss of simulated funded account access, or permanent suspension depending on the severity of the case.

1. Prohibited Trading Practices

GOAT Funded Trader restricts trading behaviour that abuses platform conditions, broker execution, or the simulated trading environment instead of demonstrating genuine trading skill:

• Exploitative strategies: Traders may not exploit pricing errors, platform latency, broker inefficiencies, non-public information, or any technical weakness that creates an unfair advantage.
• All-or-nothing trading: Excessively risky trading that can effectively risk the account in a single trade may be considered gambling-style behaviour and can lead to account action.
• Martingale and recovery systems: Strategies that increase lot size or trade volume after losses in order to recover drawdown are not allowed.
• Simulated environment abuse: Repeated high-volume trading without a clear and logical strategy may be flagged for review, limited, suspended, or terminated.
• Third-party challenge passing: Using account-passing services, off-the-shelf strategies, shared EAs, or systems marketed specifically to pass prop firm assessments may lead to breach or reward forfeiture.

2. News Trading & Expert Advisors (EAs)

GOAT Funded Trader allows certain flexible trading methods, but they must still follow the firm’s risk and fairness rules:

• News trading: Trading during high-impact news is allowed, but trades opened or closed within 5 minutes before or after a red-folder news event are capped at 1% profit of the account’s initial balance.
• Excess news profit: Any profit above the 1% limit may be removed during review, but this adjustment does not automatically count as an account breach.
• Use of EAs / automation: Expert Advisors are allowed if they comply with GOAT’s prohibited trading rules.
• Restricted automation: High-frequency trading systems and Gold Arbitrage EAs are not allowed.

3. Hedging, Copying & Account Ownership

GOAT Funded Trader expects each trader to operate independently and not use accounts to offset or duplicate risk:

• Hedging: Hedging is prohibited within the same account, across multiple accounts owned by the same trader, across accounts owned by different traders, or between a GOAT account and another prop firm account.
• Opposite positions: Hedging includes opening opposing positions on the same asset, regardless of lot size or calculated risk.
• Trade duplication: Copying trades or trade ideas between funded and evaluation accounts, or between multiple evaluation accounts, is not permitted.
• Account access: Only the registered account owner is allowed to trade the account. Sharing access or using third-party account management services may lead to breach.

4. Risk Controls & Trading Behaviour

• Stop loss and take profit: Stop losses and take profits are encouraged but not mandatory. Traders are still expected to manage risk responsibly.
• Risk limitation policy: If GOAT considers a trader’s activity too risky, specific risk limits may be applied to the account. Ignoring those limits after being notified may result in a breach.
• Goat Guard: GOAT Guard may automatically close open positions on eligible funded accounts if floating losses reach a defined risk threshold. Repeated triggers can reduce payout conditions or lead to account breach.

5. Trading Days, Weekend Holding & Short Trades

• Minimum trading days: Trading day requirements vary by model, and some programs require valid profitable trading days before progression or reward eligibility.
• Weekend holding: Holding trades over the weekend is generally allowed, but intentionally targeting weekend gaps may lead to profit removal after review.
• Trades under 2 minutes: On funded accounts, profits from trades held for less than 2 minutes may be excluded from payout eligibility, while losses remain counted.

6. Breaches & Enforcement

• Manual and automated reviews: Accounts may be reviewed for prohibited trading, excessive risk, coordination, copy trading, or abuse of the simulated environment.
• Profit removal: Certain rule events, such as excess news profit, weekend-gap profit, or short-duration trade profit, may result in profit deductions without necessarily breaching the account.
• Account breach: Serious violations such as hedging, martingale, third-party challenge passing, duplicate accounts, or prohibited automation may lead to account termination and loss of reward eligibility.
• Permanent suspension: Severe or repeated violations may result in the trader being banned from GOAT Funded Trader’s platform.

For the complete and most up-to-date details, see GOAT Funded Trader’s official Rules FAQ / Knowledgebase.