Stop Tweaking Your EA: The “No-Touch” Rule That Makes Automated Trading Actually Work
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Stop Tweaking Your EA: The “No-Touch” Rule That Makes Automated Trading Actually Work

29 January 2026, 16:00
Flora Rosa Seeholzer
Flora Rosa Seeholzer
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If you’re running an EA and you keep changing settings every week, you’re not optimizing.

You’re destroying the only thing that makes automation powerful:

consistency.

Here’s the harsh truth:

Most EAs don’t “fail” because the logic is bad.
They fail because the trader never lets the system play out.

This post gives you the one rule that fixes it:

The No-Touch Rule.

Why most EA “optimization” is just disguised emotional trading

It usually looks like this:

  • EA loses 2–3 trades → tweak settings

  • EA wins 1–2 trades → confidence spike → increase risk

  • EA hits a flat period → change broker

  • new month → new settings

  • repeat forever

That’s not systematic trading.

That’s manual trading with extra steps.

The No-Touch Rule (simple and brutal)

Once you set an EA live:

You do not change parameters until you hit a minimum sample size.

Because without sample size:

  • you can’t distinguish variance from failure

  • every decision becomes emotional

  • you never get clean data

The only sample-size targets you need (evergreen)

Use these as your decision thresholds:

0–30 trades: “Noise zone”

Do not judge performance here.
Only check that the EA behaves correctly.

30–80 trades: “Early signal zone”

You can start evaluating:

  • execution quality

  • risk comfort

  • basic stability

But still don’t tweak parameters.

80–200 trades: “Decision zone”

Now you can make real decisions:

  • keep as-is

  • reduce risk

  • pause the strategy

  • change only one variable at a time

200+ trades: “System zone”

You have enough history to understand the EA in different conditions.

Most traders never reach this point because they keep touching everything.

What you are allowed to change (without breaking the No-Touch Rule)

You can change things that do NOT change the strategy logic:

Allowed changes

  • total risk allocation (portfolio budget)

  • broker (if execution is clearly poor)

  • VPS stability / platform issues

  • spread filter (if needed)

Not allowed (until sample size)

  • entry rules

  • indicator parameters

  • signal sensitivity

  • stop/target logic

Because changing logic resets the experiment.

The silent reason people tweak: they can’t tolerate boredom

Automation feels boring when it’s done right.

The mind wants action:

  • “Let me improve it”

  • “Let me make it faster”

  • “Let me catch more trades”

That’s how you turn stable automation into chaos.

A real system trader values boredom.

Boredom is the cost of consistency.

Fix the #1 hidden cause of “EA underperformance”: execution

Before you touch settings, check execution.

If spreads are wide or slippage is frequent, your EA can look “broken” even if the logic is fine.

That’s why I recommend brokers that generally handle EA execution well:

IC Trading – Raw spreads / low-cost execution
https://bit.ly/3KvI9RO

Pepperstone – Compatible with most EA strategies
https://bit.ly/4ophy72

Bad execution creates false conclusions.

A simple automation setup that benefits massively from the No-Touch Rule

If you want an evergreen, low-complexity setup where the No-Touch Rule works perfectly:

USDJPY Trend (H1)

JPY Trend EA ProTrading (74 USD)
MT5: https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/157484
MT4: https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/157485

Gold Breakouts (M15)

Gold Trend Breakout EA ProTrading (74 USD)
MT5: https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/157465
MT4: https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/157466

These two engines behave differently, so you:

  • reduce dependence on one market

  • reduce the urge to “fix” things daily

  • build real sample size faster

And because they’re simple to run (no “1000 input traps”), you’re less likely to misconfigure them.

The scaling reason this matters (Axi Select)

If you ever plan to scale capital, the No-Touch Rule becomes even more important.

Scaling magnifies:

  • drawdown

  • execution mistakes

  • emotional decisions

If you want a scaling model that makes more sense for systematic traders than challenge obsession, compare Axi Select:
https://bit.ly/48TlcAc

But don’t scale anything until you can follow one rule:
stop touching the system.

Copy/paste: The No-Touch Rule

  1. Pick your EA setup and broker

  1. Run the EA unchanged until minimum sample size

  • 0–30 trades: only behavior checks

  • 30–80: early evaluation, still no tweaks

  • 80–200: real decisions

  • 200+: long-term understanding

  1. Only adjust risk, not strategy logic

  2. If scaling is your goal, compare

Quick Links

Axi Select: https://bit.ly/48TlcAc

IC Trading: https://bit.ly/3KvI9RO
Pepperstone: https://bit.ly/4ophy72

JPY Trend EA ProTrading (MT5): https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/157484
JPY Trend EA ProTrading (MT4): https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/157485

Gold Trend Breakout EA ProTrading (MT5): https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/157465
Gold Trend Breakout EA ProTrading (MT4): https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/157466