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When to stop

Do not optimize when:
  • trade count is too low to be meaningful
  • exits and risk rules are unclear or inconsistent
  • behavior doesn’t match the idea you intended
  • results only look good on a very short window
Optimization doesn’t fix broken logic. It only hides it.

What to do instead

Before you optimize, focus on:
  • clarifying intent (what the strategy is supposed to do)
  • fixing exits and risk so losses are bounded
  • simplifying logic until behavior is explainable
  • getting more data or broader ranges if the sample is too small

A simple rule of thumb

If you can’t explain why the strategy works, don’t optimize it.

Improving a strategy

Overfitting & guardrails

How to read results

Risk warnings