Independent profile. Every rule below is quoted from Goat Funded Trader’s own help center and legal pages. Last verified: August 6, 2026.
Update (6 August 2026): Goat raised the funded-stage minimum trading days from 3 to 4 on the 2-Step Standard, 2-Step GOAT and 1-Step models (accounts purchased on/after ~25–27 July 2026), and tightened the 1-Step daily drawdown from 4% to 3% for accounts purchased from 1 August 2026. Current promo: BOGO40 (40% off + BOGO); FIRSTGFT still gives new customers 50%.
Goat Funded Trader is a multi-asset CFD prop firm — forex, indices, metals, commodities, stocks and crypto — not a futures firm. It suits traders who want a static, plannable drawdown (your loss floor never moves) and a choice of evaluation depths, from a fast 1-step to a gentler 3-step, plus instant-funding options. Weekend holding and news trading are both allowed, which rules out very few strategies. The split is a standard 80% (payable up to 100% via a paid add-on), with a $100 minimum payout every 14 days. Two things to go in clear-eyed on: the advertised “100% refundable fee” is reimbursed with your first payout, not cancellable — Goat’s own refund policy says purchases are final — and US traders are accepted but funnelled onto three specific platforms (MT5 and cTrader are off-limits in the US). If you trade US futures, Topstep, Apex or Tradeify will fit better; Goat is the pick when you want CFD instruments and a static drawdown.
40% off + BOGO with BOGO40; new customers 50% with FIRSTGFT.
Start with Goat Funded Trader →The models are the whole story
Goat runs several evaluation paths side by side. The trade-off is consistent: a shallower profit target usually comes with a tighter overall loss limit. Every figure here is a percentage of your starting balance, and on all evaluation models the maximum loss is static — it is an absolute floor that does not trail up as you profit.
| Model | Profit target(s) | Max overall loss | Daily loss | Min trading days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-Step | 10% | 6% static | 4% | 3 valid days |
| 2-Step Standard | 10% then 5% | 10% static | 5% | 3 valid days |
| 2-Step GOAT | 8% then 6% | 10% static | 4% | 3 valid days/step |
| 2-Step Pro | 8% then 4% | 8% static | 4% | 3 days/phase |
| 3-Step | 6% × 3 | 8% static | 4% | none in eval |
| Instant GOAT | none (instant) | 6% trailing | 3% trailing | 5 days |
One quirk worth knowing before you count days: a “valid trading day” only counts if you make at least 0.5% profit that day. A day where you traded but finished flat or down does not tick the counter. That is stricter than firms that count any day you place a trade.
Which model should you actually pick?
The 1-step is the fastest route to funded (one 10% target) but pairs it with the tightest floor on the board — a static 6% — so a single bad run ends it. The 2-Step Pro is the mirror image: modest 8%-then-4% targets, but also a tight 8% floor, and it is the model that carries a payout cap on your first two withdrawals (more on that below). The 3-Step spreads the same total effort across three 6% targets with a more forgiving 8% floor and no minimum days in evaluation, which favours traders who want room to breathe. The Instant models skip evaluation entirely but switch the drawdown to trailing and add a hard per-trade kill switch, so they behave very differently from the evaluations — treat them as a separate product, not a shortcut.
How the drawdown actually bites
On the evaluations, static is the trader-friendly part: on a $100,000 2-Step Pro account the 8% floor sits at $92,000 and stays there whether your balance is $101,000 or $108,000. You always know exactly where the account dies. Contrast that with the Instant GOAT account, where the 6% drawdown trails your equity — climb to $106,000 in floating profit and the floor ratchets up behind you, so giving those gains back can breach you even though you are still above your starting balance. The Instant models add a second trap: if floating PnL ever drops below -2% of balance at any moment, the account is permanently closed — a single oversized loser ends it, intraday, regardless of where you finish the day.
Daily loss on the evaluations is checked once, at 5:00 PM EST, against the higher of your balance or equity for the day — so an intraday equity dip that recovers before the cutoff does not count against the daily limit.
Pricing and the “refundable” fee
Goat charges a one-time fee per account, no subscription. The firm sets per-size prices inside its checkout app; the figure we can verify directly is the $100,000 account at $438, discounted to $263 with the 50%-off promo codes shown on the homepage at the time of writing (WORLDCUP50 / FIRSTGFT). There is also a promotional $1 “Goat 1$” instant model on a $1,000 account, capped at $100 lifetime withdrawal — a try-before-you-buy, not a real funding path. We do not publish the full per-size grid because it is generated in the live checkout and we could not read it from a fixed source; check the current number in the checkout before you buy.
The refund wording is worth a careful read. Goat markets the fee as a “one-time 100% refundable fee.” But its own Refund Policy states: “There are no refunds on any Services purchased from the Company… All transactions made are final.” Both are Goat’s own words. The reconciliation, as at most prop firms, is that “refundable” means the fee is returned to you with your first payout once you are funded and paid — not that you can cancel the purchase for cash back. If you never reach a payout, you do not get the fee back. Read it that way and price the risk accordingly.
Payouts and scaling
The base split is 80% to the trader, upgradable to 100% through a paid add-on. Payouts run on a 14-day cycle, with a $100 minimum. Your first payout needs at least 3% profit on the account and triggers KYC identity checks plus signing the trader agreement — standard, but budget the time. Two caps to plan around: the first two payouts are limited to 6% of the initial account size or $10,000, whichever is lower (the cap comes off after that), and funded accounts carry a $3,000 daily profit cap. Goat also runs a marketing guarantee to pay you within 24 hours “or we pay an extra $1,000” — a claim we note but cannot audit.
The US picture: accepted, but pick your platform
The United States is not on Goat’s restricted-countries list, and the firm states plainly that US traders are supported. The catch is platform access: Goat’s own help center says “MT5 and cTrader are not available to clients located in the USA” — US traders are routed to TradeLocker, MatchTrader or Volumetrica instead. If you are wedded to MetaTrader or cTrader, that is a dealbreaker; if you are platform-agnostic, it is a non-issue. (Restricted countries as of the last update include Russia, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea, among others — check the live list for your jurisdiction.)
Rules worth knowing before you buy
- News trading — allowed, with a cap. Trading through news is permitted, but any trade opened or closed within 5 minutes of a high-impact (red-folder) release can bank a maximum profit of 1% of the account’s initial balance; excess is removed. Applies in evaluation and funded phases.
- Weekend holding — allowed. Goat states you can hold trades over the weekend, with no restriction attached.
- EAs — allowed with limits. Expert Advisors are permitted if you own them and they respect the prohibited-practices rule; HFT systems are banned and off-the-shelf or “pass-marketed” EAs are prohibited. You may be asked to prove ownership via source code.
- Hedging — banned. “Hedging is strictly prohibited” — including across your own accounts and across firms — and defined as opening two opposite positions on the same asset regardless of size. Penalty is immediate breach plus a permanent ban.
- Copy trading and signals — banned. “Signal services and copy trading are not permitted… All trading decisions must be made independently by the account holder.”
Track record in context
Goat’s own marketing cites $23 million paid in rewards, 250,000+ traders, and a self-reported 4.8-star rating from around 5,000 reviews. These are the firm’s own figures, not independently audited — useful for scale, but treat them as marketing, not proof. What is verifiable from the documentation is the part that matters day to day: the rules are published in detail, dated, and mostly consistent, and the static drawdown on evaluations gives you a floor you can actually plan around. The soft spots are the pricing opacity (per-size prices only visible in checkout) and the “refundable fee” language that its own legal terms partly contradict.
Who Goat suits — and who should look elsewhere
Good fit: multi-asset CFD traders (forex, indices, metals, crypto, stocks) who want a static, plannable drawdown, the freedom to hold over weekends and trade news, and a choice of evaluation depth. Poor fit: US traders who require MT5 or cTrader; anyone who trades US futures (a dedicated futures firm is cheaper and better-fitted); and traders who assume “refundable” means they can get their fee back without ever being funded.
Quick answers
Does Goat Funded Trader accept US traders? Yes. The US is not restricted, but US clients cannot use MT5 or cTrader — only TradeLocker, MatchTrader or Volumetrica.
Is the Goat Funded Trader fee actually refundable? The fee is advertised as “100% refundable,” but Goat’s legal Refund Policy says purchases are final. In practice the fee is returned with your first payout once funded — it is not a cash-back you can claim by cancelling.
What is Goat’s profit split and minimum payout? 80% to the trader (upgradable to 100% via paid add-on), with a $100 minimum payout on a 14-day cycle. First two payouts are capped at 6% of account size or $10,000, whichever is lower.
Does Goat use trailing or static drawdown? All evaluation models use a static maximum loss (a fixed floor). The Instant funding models instead use a 6% trailing drawdown that resets after each payout, plus a -2% per-trade kill switch.
Can you hold over the weekend and trade news on Goat? Yes to weekend holding. News trading is allowed, but profit on any trade opened or closed within 5 minutes of a high-impact release is capped at 1% of the account’s initial balance.