Of course, the choices one makes are very system specific. What manual input do you have nowadays? Just optimizing?
I don't believe in optimizing as that doesn't work, I believe in back testing and try to capture the parameters that will give me 90% but only if I will lose excessive loses and over 3000 plus sample size.
I didn't say that I never manually trade, when I design something new, I will trade it nearly each day to see if it worth back testing it. I can read charts decent, so method is either with trend or against it. If with trend, 90% of the time I am waiting for price to retrace and enter against trend direction as it is only way I can get risk low enough to make it worth while, whereas if against trend will be again getting as far from most recent extremes of price that is the trend. I don't like breakout with trend entries much as risk is higher and possible profit lower for me trading like the ES. Now markets like Crude Oil can tolerate breakouts trades a bit better, but for me, I prefer to wait for price to come to me for entry and this is for day trading.
Longer term trading Commodities very very different that most people trade, all my positions whether original entries or adding on are generally against major trends and why I hedge as I am often early, so it will take many trades to find the last trade that will become something I hold for years, but it works for me.
Stocks/ETFs are both to a degree of trading with trend and against/hedged, and often times are always in 50% of time, so many reversals if opposite signal comes in. It only markets where I will do breakout entries along with waiting for prices to retrace.
Options systems, I take signals off stock systems for credit spreads.
But generally I am working on risk management, finding ways where I can reduce risk which will increase profit, I like systems where I can risk low to make 2pt plus in ES which I have traded the longest. When you average down, concentration on risk is number one and keeping loss percentage.
