It does sound like we have somewhat similar trading philosophies. I don't hedge much. I'd rather just start with very small positions and pyramid aggressively. I'm not sure what you are asking with the 5k to 10k question.
As far as the COT that is about 1/5 of what I'm using to make my sentiment decisions on gold. I don't think it is that great a tool when used solely on its own. I also use the Hulbert sentiment index, amount of rydex mutual fund assets devoted to precious metals, and a few others. I use internet forums as a less formal, less quantifiable way of measuring sentiment as well.
I follow close to 50 future markets, So when I put on my position, I have a target where I take profit on half position and it is either 2,5, or 10k, before I use to just keep entire position till I got either exit violation or reversal. But what happened too often, especially in Indexes at these much higher levels, say ES tops which it did and goes down 40 points from entry, now I take that on half position, each market has it's own first target, T-Bonds, Notes, energies is 10k, often comes down to margins, I factored long ago as to what the margin was how much the first target was. I have not changed it in fifteen years.
I don't add-on aggressively, I require deep retracements and depending on the options will tell me what is safe amount of futures that can be placed on some markets. As I have gotten older, just have gotten much more conservative, much more risk adverse.