My current stock trading is solely discrete (read: non automated), my trading partner however is trading the currency markets fully automated. He is working on our automated system for over 5 years now and is making huge progress. One major improvement was the adaption of my PLL technique for forex, based on tickvolume.
Compared to the currency markets, where a million eyes watch the same couple charts, stock selection plays a major role in developing an edge in the stock market. I don't believe that stock picking can be automated as it is impossible to create an algo which is able to see and prioritize the various price and volume clues. However I believe that it is possible to automate the stock handling part. Teaching an algo to prioritize the various support and resistance levels is rather simple (technical pivots, sloped technical trendlines, major moving averages and the peak liquidity levels and peak liquidity zones).
To make a long story short, I am thinking about a semi-automated approach to the stockmarket for years. Once our forex algos are finished (2021), my trading partner will likely start to work on the stock market via the TWS API from Interactive Brokers.