Over the last few days of testing and researching strategies, I’ve decided to make an important change to this challenge.

While searching for profitable gold strategies, I kept coming across losing ones, so I thought: why not take those losing strategies and try to reverse them into profitable systems by trading in the opposite direction

It sounded interesting in theory.

But after more testing, I’ve realised it’s much harder in real trading conditions than it first seemed.

So, I’ve made some important strategic decisions, as follows:

Update 1 –  Stopping the “Reverse Losing Strategies” idea

For now, I’m stopping the idea of reversing losing strategies in this challenge.

Why?

Because it makes much more sense  and is better trading practice, to work with strategies that already show some profit potential in backtests first.

The problem with losing strategies is they already start as losers from day one.

Even if reversing them sometimes improves results, there are still big problems:

• Spread costs reduce profits
• Bad entries are still bad entries
• Slippage and execution prices hurt performance
• Some strategies lose because the logic is poor, not just the direction

So instead of trying to rescue bad systems, I think it’s smarter to focus on strategies that already show promise.

Trading is already difficult enough. There’s no need to make it even harder.

New Focus Going Forward

From now on, I’ll only focus on strategies that first show profitability in backtesting.

Then the process becomes:

1. Find a strategy with potential
2. Check the data and stability
3. Optimise only if needed
4. Forward test carefully
5. Build a diversified portfolio over time

To enter the challenge portfolio, a strategy must now meet these 5 backtest rules:

Challenge Backtest Criteria

1. 100 trades in backtest
2. Profit factor: ≥ 1.5
3. Winrate: ≥ 50%
4. Drawdown : ≥ 25%
5. Smooth equity curve upwards

The goal is to build stable systems with controlled risk that can survive long term.

Update 2 –  Adding More Assets

Another important update is diversification.

Originally, my plan was to run multiple GOLD strategies.
However, this can lead to overexposure, and correlation between strategies increases risk.

If multiple systems lose at the same time, drawdowns can get much worse.

Even if you run five different gold strategies, they can still end up highly exposed to the same market moves.

At the end of the day, gold will either go up or down, so you often end up stacking similar buy or sell exposure anyway.

So to reduce correlation, spread risk, and create more opportunities, I’m planning to add 4 more assets to the challenge portfolio – if I can find profitable strategies for them, alongside gold (which I’m currently struggling to find free ones for).

Planned New Assets – In addition to GOLD (XAUUSD)

GBPJPY

• Strong volatility and momentum
• Good for trend and breakout systems
• Bigger moves can create bigger opportunities

AUDNZD

• Slower and steadier movement
• Can suit lower-risk systems (and that’s what I prefer low risk)
• May work well for range trading strategies

USDCAD

• Different market behaviour from other pairs
• Good intraday movement
• Helps diversify portfolio exposure

EURCHF

• Lower volatility pair
• Can help smooth drawdowns
• Useful for balancing higher-risk systems

Final Thoughts

The focus now is:

• Better strategy selection
• Stronger backtest quality
• Better diversification
• Lower correlation
• Better risk control
• Long-term consistency

The goal is not to find one “perfect” strategy.

The goal is to build a portfolio of strong systems that can survive different market conditions over time.

More updates coming soon.