Wider Stock Watchlist Didn't Raise Trade Count in Trading Bot Experiment

A developer expanded their trading bot's watchlist from a small hand-picked set to a much larger slice of the market, expecting more trading activity. Instead, the number of trades barely changed, while the quality of selected stocks improved. The bot's shortlisting method checks every candidate against the same rules and keeps only the top-scoring ones up to a fixed maximum. Symbols with missing data are skipped rather than guessed, and the bot may select nothing on days when no stock clears every rule. The author argues that loosening the rules to generate more trades would only add mediocre positions. The piece is educational and not financial advice.