Mix...definately mix.. I used both to make my monthly target, however i do feel that manual trading is more profitable. However, the automated trades are also helping to pull in some consistent small profits and trading volume.. Anyway, most automated trading are based on manual trading concept and theory too, we can use both, the p/l matter most, it doesnt reallly important whether it's manual or auto right ? Let's use both, we get both advantage from the both world. cheers

wow, that's cruel to EA... EA is just an automation .... It's not a machine with a brain, it's here to help us automate some of the manual work. It make no sense why not to use an ea to do a trade if the condition of the trigger are fixed and same. As for some trigger that requires human analysis, then put the EA aside, and use them to send entry ALERT only. I leave some of my EA running automated, and only alert me if my equity drops -5% (threshold), then i would take over manually. I am an EA programmer and i have used and tested many EA since 2009 as well. I would agree most of the shelf ......

When this comes to me, usually I would be asking what is the risk appetite. If you are risking your account at 10% equity, i would say a gain of 2%-5% per trading month is very ideal. If you are risking your account at 50% equity, i would say a gain of 20-30% per trading month is very ideal. For investment type of account, I would normally apply a compounding concept to it. +5%-10% per month is usually my target for exposing 10-15% of my equity to risk. A consistent +5% a month yields more than +500% in 3 years. That beats most of the other available investment engine in the market !!!! ......

I think size could be vary according to the trigger. I personally use 1% - 5% per order depending on the trigger, 1% - 3% for scalping, 1%-2% for swing , 3%- 5% for scalping trend breakout. Unless the trade are using exactly the same condition for trade trigger and same risk:reward, else I think it would be much better to varies our lot size depending on the risk:reward condition for optimum profitablity. Usually I am not concerned about how my statement records looks like, I just focus on the risk exposed and the profitability. The marketing is a dynamic market, it may not be feasible to u......

HAHA ..yeah last short position closed now. be back next week after NFP... wont be taking trades for this week.