No, I have never achieved full automation. I spent a lot of time doing backtests many months ago, but was never able to take the strategies live, so I shelved it and have just now started to tinker with it again after Tony's inspiration. As far as participants on this board, Tony is the most experienced in this arena.
You can always implement live strategies that trigger alerts vs. trades. That way you always have to take action on your own before trades are executed. Relinquishing complete control to the computer is a big step, imo. I'm not sure I'll ever take that step.
I can tell you that your best analysis will be achieved by watching the same set of code in various ways... as a chart study, as a L1 column, as a backtest, in a screener, and as a live strategy. These methods together will give you a real understanding of your logic and its results. I'll also say that if your plan is to implement your backtesting strategies as live strategies, that you MUST test with "detect intrabar" set to 1 minute, else you're completely wasting your time.
I do use a TON of formulas... mostly in screeners, L1s, and chart studies... for the moment.
Hope that helps light the path a bit....
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