I know the conventional recommendation is to set the anti skate to the same setting as VTF.It has always amazed me that many turntable and tonearm manufacturers give that recommendation. In my experience, which is limited to moving magnet (and moving iron) cartridges such as Grace F9-E variants, that kind of setting will invariably result in severe deflection of the cantilever to the left (toward the center of the record), as viewed from the front of the cartridge while the stylus is in the groove of a rotating record. Which is completely ridiculous IMO.
The technique I use, prior to making SLIGHT final tweaks by ear, is to set anti-skating such that the angle of the cantilever, as viewed from the front of the cartridge while the stylus is in the groove of a ROTATING record, is the same as when the stylus is lifted off of the record (i.e., approximately straight ahead). To find that point precisely, I usually find it necessary to increase anti-skating until deflection to the left just begins to be perceptible, and then to decrease it until deflection to the right just begins to be perceptible. I then set a-s to the mid-point between those two settings, and perform slight final tweaks by listening (although those often don't make much if any difference).
I have consistently found over the years that the result of that methodology is a setting corresponding to 50 to 65% of VTF.
Regarding anti-skate settings for low compliance LOMC cartridges, for the viewpoints of some of our most experienced and knowledgeable members see this thread. Be sure to read it to the end. Their views conflict to some extent, as might be expected, but no one suggests setting anti-skating to a value as high as VTF.
Regards,
-- Al