I agree. A simple alarm at the spot you waiting for is easy and quicker.
The problem with automating is this - every moment is unique, like today for instance when the news was released - you can not foretell what reaction there will be until the news is released, as it all depends on the conditions that currently exists and what has happened over the last few days.
To automate blindly on positive or negative news releases, is, well, a little bit thick!
A real good programmer would have to take all the variables into consideration, and, my gut feeling is that this would be a very complicated and sophisticated programme to write.
When you take that very few programmers even structure their programme into logical blocks that are easy to follow and understand (never mind the code behind the logic), this is why I say it would take a very good programmer to automate trading for consistent profits.
To really make it work, the programmer would have to fully understand how to read charts across different timeframes, how they relate to each other at different times based on the bar formations, and the significance of some formations over others, based on time and volume.
Charts are just a visual representation of buy and sell orders - to try and predict what buyers and sellers will do next, based on current "news", is a tricky business at the best of times - but if you are there for when the "news" is released, then it makes it much easier, as you now only have to worry about what is actually happening now, and not what might happen!
Once you know what is happening now, you can make better trading decisions based on what has happened in the past - but you must know what is happening NOW
As mentioned, the brain can "see" more in one quick glance, than the fastest PC with a very sophisticated programme running will ever see - maybe someday it will be possible to easily transfer your billions of years evolved complicated thought process into executable code, just like maybe someday man will live on Mars, and grow "spuds" (aka potatoes, for those of you who are not Irish) from his own shite
J_S