Yes, I would limit the max number of trades to 15 at a time and see the results. The returns will go down but I suspect so will the drawdown.
I'm not so sure about that. If the wrong 15 get opened or closed you might end up with a larger drawdown. Would be interesting to compare two backtests: with and without a limit on the number of trades at any one time.
You should focus first on the risk involved in trading. I trade no more than 7 positions at any one time. So, 7 x 2% = 14% maximum risk assuming I lose all 7 trades and lose all my monies each time. The Turtles also, traded everything that moved, including commodities to diversify and minimize risk.
Do you have the same rules for each stock you trade in? I think because I have the same rules, the trades come in clusters.
If this is the case it implies that apparently all stocks move up and down in the same pattern. In other words: they have a high correlation to each other. If three stocks move identical you don't need to track all three of them in your system: you could choose one and ignore the other two.
No. I use chart patterns to tell me which stocks to trade. There are times I do not have any trades and other times, I could have 5 trades or more. Then, I have to pick and choose which stocks to trade based on their chart patterns. I use the same criteria or filters to pick those stocks I trade in. You do not need to be trading every single day to make monies in the stockmarket. Taking quality trades vs trading 100 different stocks all at once, should be your goal. If you over trade, most of the time, most of those trades are garbage trades to begin with so, you are just wasting time and losing your monies without gaining anything.
No, I do not have a target return. I trade stock options which has leverage so, I do not worry about the returns. Returns are higher than buying individual stocks. If a stock goes up 30% my stock options could be worth 100%-200% easily. Also, my win rate is like 30% and my average win/average loss ratio is 3/1. Most times, I am just sitting on my trades and not doing anything except, checking to see if the trend on my stocks has not changed or my stop loss has been hit.