Goat Funded Trader has allowed traders to tighten risk parameters themselves on $100,000 accounts. In exchange, the company is lowering the evaluation price. The change was announced on November 4.
A challenge is a paid evaluation after which the prop firm gives the trader an account. Floating loss is an unrealized loss on open positions. Daily drawdown is the loss limit for one trading day.
For the trader, the choice is simple. Entry costs less, but the margin for error becomes smaller.
How much does the evaluation cost now?
- Two-step 2-Step GOAT on $100K. With a 1% floating loss limit enabled, the challenge costs $198 instead of $298, that is, $100 less. This limit is calculated in real time, not based on closed trades.
- One-step 1-Step on $100K. The maximum daily drawdown can be lowered from 3% to 2%. The price goes from $344 to $248 - minus $96.
The company did not touch the other conditions:
- Leverage up to 1:100 - in both configurations.
- Payouts every two weeks - unchanged.
- Profit share of 80-100% - a paid add-on to the account.
What pays for the discount?
The discount is paid for with risk. A 1% floating loss on a $100,000 account is $1,000 of drawdown on an open position.
- You won't be able to sit out a loss. A strategy that turns positive after a deep drawdown will hit the limit before it reaches the target.
- Daily 2% instead of 3%. The margin for a series of trades and for wide stop-losses shrinks.
A low entry price by itself does not make the evaluation easier. The parameters are worth checking against your trading style and choosing a challenge to match it.
What does this mean for the trader?
The $96-100 savings works only under one condition. The trader must know in advance whether their trading fits within the tightened limit.
Key point: cheaper does not mean easier. For the discount, the trader gives up part of their risk margin, and passing the evaluation becomes harder.
What is changing in the market?
For the prop firm market, this is price segmentation. The set of criteria for comparing evaluations has become broader.
- Before - challenges were compared by account size, number of stages, drawdown and cost.
- Now - a new question has been added: which restriction the trader is willing to pay less for.
You can compare conditions across different companies in the challenge catalog.
Choosing a challenge by price?
Comparing evaluations by price tag doesn't work here. For the same $100,000 account size, the spread reaches a hundred dollars, and the whole difference is hidden in one line of the rules about the loss limit. First look at how the drawdown is calculated and at what point it triggers, and only then at the price. In the catalog, these lines are collected by company and updated. Half an hour of checking costs less than one blown account.