Frequently Asked Questions

GAT Markets is a software automation system for XAUUSD trading on MetaTrader 5. It consists of an Expert Advisor (EA) that runs on a Windows VPS and a server infrastructure that delivers trade instructions to the EA.

When our analysts identify a setup that meets the strategy rules, a trade instruction is sent to your EA. The EA places and manages the trade automatically on your own brokerage account — including setting stop-losses, taking profits at target levels, and closing positions. You do not need to monitor the screen or take any action once it is set up.

The overall process typically takes 3–7 business days from initial contact to live trading, depending on how quickly your broker account is opened and verified.

Opening a Vantage Markets account: 1–3 days (identity verification). VPS setup: a few hours. MT5 installation: under 30 minutes. EA activation by us: same or next business day after verification is confirmed.

We walk you through each step personally. Most users who follow the steps in our guide have no significant delays.

You do not need trading experience to set up and run the EA. We guide you through every step — broker account, VPS, MT5 installation, and loading the EA file. The EA then operates without any manual trading input from you.

However, we do recommend having a basic understanding of what CFD and gold trading involves before committing capital. All trading involves risk of loss, and you should be comfortable with the possibility of losing the capital you put at risk — even with automation. Please read our risk disclosure before proceeding.

There is no official minimum set by GAT. However, as a practical matter, the EA requires enough account balance to size positions correctly at your configured risk percentage.

At 1% risk per trade and a typical XAUUSD stop-loss of 50–120 points, you need enough margin to sustain multiple concurrent baskets and cover spread costs. We generally advise against starting below £/$1,000 as very small accounts may struggle with minimum lot size constraints. This is something we can discuss with you personally during onboarding.

The EA respects minimum lot size constraints automatically — it will skip a trade instruction if the correctly sized position is below your broker's minimum lot.

Yes. We can activate your EA on a Vantage demo account before going live so you can observe how it behaves and build confidence in the system. We recommend this for users who want to verify the setup before committing real capital.

Note that demo accounts do not reflect real execution quality — spreads, slippage, and order fill behaviour on live accounts will differ. Demo results are not predictive of live account performance. Contact us if you want to start with a demo period.

No. The EA runs on a Windows Virtual Private Server (VPS), not your personal computer. The VPS runs 24/7 independently of your own machine — you can shut down your PC, travel, or sleep and the EA will continue operating normally.

You access the VPS remotely via Windows Remote Desktop when you need to check it. IONOS, our recommended VPS provider, offers a 99.99% uptime SLA on their Windows S+ plan.

We specifically recommend Vantage Markets. The EA has been built and tested on their MT5 platform with their XAUUSD symbol naming conventions and execution infrastructure.

Vantage offers raw ECN spreads on XAUUSD, fast execution, and full MetaTrader 5 support — all essential for the EA to function correctly. Using a different broker is generally not supported and may cause issues with symbol mapping, lot size constraints, or execution speed. If you already have a live account with a different broker, contact us first to confirm compatibility.

Every few seconds the EA polls our instruction server to check for new trade instructions. When one arrives, it validates the instruction, calculates the correct position size based on your account balance and risk setting, and places an order on your MT5 account with a stop-loss and take-profit attached.

It then continues monitoring the open basket — trailing the stop-loss as price moves in your favour, partially closing positions when take-profit levels are hit, and handling any management instructions sent by the strategy. When a basket is fully closed, the EA logs the outcome and awaits the next instruction.

Yes. Risk settings are configured at account setup and can be reviewed and adjusted via the client portal at any time. Settings include risk percentage per trade, daily loss limit, and equity protection threshold.

Changes take effect the next time your EA re-authenticates with our server, typically within minutes. We recommend discussing any significant risk setting changes with us before applying them, as the interaction between risk settings and multi-basket exposure can affect total account risk in ways that are not immediately obvious.

The EA is designed to handle both scenarios gracefully.

VPS network interruption: If the VPS temporarily loses connection to the GAT server, the EA continues managing any already-open baskets using its locally cached configuration. No new instructions are received until connectivity is restored, but existing positions continue to be managed (stop-losses, trailing stops, take-profit monitoring) locally.

GAT server downtime: Similarly, if our server is temporarily unavailable, the EA runs from its cached configuration. The EA's last-known settings (risk, strategies, management rules) are stored locally and remain in effect during any server outage.

If the VPS itself crashes and restarts, the EA reloads from its locally saved state file, which records all open basket details. Positions re-synchronise with the broker automatically on restart.

Yes. Each EA is issued as a compiled file licensed to a specific MT5 account number and authenticated against our server. It will not trade on an account other than the one it was issued for. The EA cannot be copied and run on a second account, shared with a third party, or used without a valid active license. Attempting to run the EA on an unlicensed account will result in the EA refusing to trade.

GAT Partner Access is currently provided through an introducing broker (IB) arrangement with Vantage Markets. When you open a Vantage trading account using our partner link and your account is verified under our IB, we activate your EA license — at no direct cost to you.

GAT receives a commission from Vantage based on your trading activity. This is paid by Vantage, not by you. It does not affect the quality of your access, the risk settings on your account, or the trade instructions your EA receives.

Access remains available while your partner/IB status with Vantage remains valid. If a direct subscription fee is introduced in the future, we will update these terms and give existing partners advance notice.

No direct software subscription fee is charged during the current Partner Access launch. You pay your VPS provider (IONOS — typically ~£5–15/month) and your broker (Vantage Markets — standard brokerage spreads and commissions, same as any other client). Neither of these is paid to GAT.

GAT may receive an IB commission from Vantage when you trade. This is disclosed in our Terms of Use and does not result in any additional charge to you. There is no hidden fee and we do not take a cut of your trading profits.

Possibly, yes. If your existing Vantage account can be linked to our IB arrangement, we can still activate your EA. Contact us with your account details and we will confirm whether this is possible and how to proceed. This depends on how the account was originally opened and whether Vantage permits IB re-linking in your case.

We are currently accepting Partner Access applications. Every onboarding is handled personally, so we do manage the number of new activations to ensure all partners receive proper setup support.

Contact us or apply via the Get Started page to find out current availability.

You can end your access at any time by contacting us. We will deactivate your EA license. You remain in full control of your Vantage account — you can continue trading manually or close it with Vantage independently of us.

There is no lock-in period, no cancellation fee, and no notice period required. Since no subscription payment is charged during the Partner Access launch, there is also no refund situation to manage.

Your funds are held in your own brokerage account at Vantage Markets. GAT has no ability to withdraw funds, transfer money, or access your capital outside of MetaTrader 5. We are not a managed account provider — the EA can only open, manage, and close trades within MT5.

You retain full control of your Vantage account at all times. You can disable the EA, withdraw funds, or close your account independently at any moment. Vantage is regulated and holds client funds in segregated accounts. GAT never touches your money.

Typically 3–8 trade instructions per week, depending on market conditions and which strategies are active on your account. Activity levels vary — some weeks may have more setups, others fewer. There is no fixed minimum or maximum.

Every trade is placed with a stop-loss and take-profit. The default risk per trade is 1–2% of account balance. However, all trading involves risk: the EA will have losing trades, losing weeks, and losing months. We cannot and do not predict performance. Please read our full risk disclosure.

We do not provide projected returns, income estimates, or any performance guarantee — doing so would be a misleading financial promotion.

Automated trading results are highly variable. Performance depends on market conditions, your account size, risk settings, broker execution quality, and which strategies are active. The same strategy can produce very different outcomes in different market regimes.

We will publish verified historical results on the Performance page when our validation period is complete — covering the full tracked period including drawdowns and losing runs. Until then, we ask that you base your decision on the methodology, the risk controls, and your own assessment of the approach — not on any expectation of specific returns.

Drawdown is a normal feature of any trading strategy. With 1–2% risk per trade and multiple concurrent strategies, a sequence of 5–10 consecutive losing trades across strategies could produce a 10–20% drawdown on the account. Larger losing runs are also possible during adverse market conditions.

We configure a daily loss limit and an equity protection circuit breaker on each account to limit the worst-case drawdown in a single session. However, multi-day losing runs across separate days can still accumulate significant drawdown. You should be mentally and financially prepared for this possibility before proceeding.

No. GAT is a rule-based automation system. Trade instructions originate from human analysts who apply defined criteria to identify setups — entry zone, stop-loss reference, and take-profit levels. The EA then executes and manages those instructions automatically.

There is no machine learning, no neural network, no adaptive algorithm, and no AI-generated setup selection involved. We say this explicitly because "AI trading" is a common marketing term that is frequently misapplied. Our system does not self-learn or adapt its strategy selection based on past performance. See the How It Works page for a full explanation of the system's approach.