Hey Matthew,
Just to add to my previous post. Either by using demo or non demo filter methods, principally we are trying to do two things I think:
1 – Trade only the Strategies that are staying true to their generated acceptance criteria
2 – Catch these strategies in their profitable phase
So with your tests you definitely want to play around a bit but also keep this in mind to avoid being too random in your approach of course.
What broker are you using and have you uploaded their data to ea studio? What longer term filter are you using and is this definitely fully past the date range used to generate the strategies you are using(including OOS)?
Also you say you have put on Top 5 etc with poor results, presumably this is top 5 according to net profit. Perhaps may get better results if put on top 5 according to R/D or max drawdown?