(I tried to delete this post as I've found similar threads to this one, but it seems I can't delete this now. Sorry).
Imagine two strategies being backtested for 5 years:
Strategy A: Win ratio 66%, Profit factor 2.35
Strategy B: Win ratio 92%, Profit factor 1.35
Strategy A yields more profit but strategy B has a better win ratio. Would you try to increase the Win ratio of A? Increase the profit factor of B? Both? How do I know which strategy is "better", when the definition of "better" isn't clear?
I was reading some articles on a statistical probability of prices going up or down on chart patterns, and that raised other questions as well. What good is the information that prices rise 82% of the time after a hammer, for example? That information by itself is not useful because it poses another set of questions: does it go up by 1 pip? 1 atr? 10 pips? Does it go up but only after the 3rd bar (statistically)? does it go up just on the next bar? etc.
I'm sure I'm not the first to be bringing up those issues. Are there some books or articles that I can read where this topic is covered in more details? I hope I'm not the only one with this sort of questions, I will share on this topic any relevant information I can find.