What is the SuperTrend indicator?

SuperTrend is an ATR-based trend-following overlay plotted directly on price. It draws a single line that sits below price during uptrends and above price during downtrends, flipping sides when price closes through it. The line gives a clear directional bias and doubles as a trailing stop level.

What are the best SuperTrend settings?

The common defaults are an ATR period of 10 and a multiplier of 3. A smaller multiplier reacts faster but produces more whipsaws, while a larger multiplier filters noise but signals later. The right setting depends on the instrument and timeframe, so test before trusting it.

When does SuperTrend perform badly?

SuperTrend struggles in ranging or choppy markets. When price drifts sideways it flips bullish and bearish repeatedly, producing a string of small losing whipsaw signals. It is built for trending conditions, so it works best when paired with a ranging filter such as ADX or the Choppiness Index.

How do I add SuperTrend on MT5?

MetaTrader 5 does not ship with SuperTrend by default, so you download a SuperTrend .ex5 or .mq5 file, place it in the Indicators folder of your data directory, restart MT5, then drag it onto a chart from the Navigator. You can then set the ATR period and multiplier in its inputs.

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SuperTrend Indicator Explained: ATR-Based Trend Following on MT5

The SuperTrend indicator is an ATR-based trend-following overlay that plots a single line on your chart and flips between bullish and bearish as price moves. When the line sits below price the trend is up; when it sits above price the trend is down, giving you a clear directional bias and a built-in trailing stop in one tool.

SuperTrend has become one of the most popular trend indicators among retail traders because it is simple to read and works on any market. This guide explains what SuperTrend actually is, how the calculation works, the settings that matter, where it shines, where it falls apart, and how to run it on MetaTrader 5.

What SuperTrend is

SuperTrend is a single line drawn over price candles. Its job is to answer one question at a glance: is the market trending up or down right now? Unlike oscillators that live in a sub window, SuperTrend is an overlay, so you read it against the candles themselves.

The line has two states. In an uptrend it is plotted in green below the candles and acts as a rising support level. When price closes decisively below it, the line flips: it jumps above price, turns red, and the bias switches to bearish. It stays there until a close back above flips it bullish again. That flip is the core SuperTrend signal.

How SuperTrend is calculated

SuperTrend is built on the Average True Range (ATR), a measure of volatility. The idea is to set a band a certain distance away from price, where the distance scales with how volatile the market is. The two inputs are:

ATR period sets the lookback used to measure volatility, commonly 10.
Multiplier sets how many ATRs away the line is placed, commonly 3.

In simple terms the indicator takes the midpoint of each candle, then adds and subtracts the ATR multiplied by your multiplier to create an upper and lower band. The active SuperTrend line follows the lower band in uptrends and the upper band in downtrends, and only flips when price closes through it. Because the distance is volatility-adjusted, the line automatically loosens in fast markets and tightens in quiet ones, which is what makes it a sensible trailing stop.

SuperTrend settings that matter

There are only two dials, but they change the behaviour completely:

Setting	Lower value	Higher value
ATR period	Reacts faster, hugs price	Smoother, slower to turn
Multiplier	More flips, more whipsaw	Fewer flips, later signals

The classic starting point is an ATR period of 10 with a multiplier of 3. Scalpers on lower timeframes often drop the multiplier toward 2 for quicker signals and accept more noise. Swing traders push it to 4 or higher to stay in trends longer. There is no universally best SuperTrend setting; it depends on the instrument, the timeframe and your tolerance for false flips, so always test on the chart you actually trade.

Where SuperTrend shines, and where it breaks

SuperTrend is genuinely excellent at one thing: keeping you on the right side of a sustained trend and trailing a stop behind it. In a clean directional move it will hold the bias through pullbacks and only flip when the trend has truly changed.

Its weakness is the mirror image of its strength. In a ranging or choppy market, price keeps crossing the line back and forth, and SuperTrend flips bullish and bearish in quick succession. Each flip is a small losing whipsaw, and a sideways week can bleed an account of many tiny stops. SuperTrend cannot tell a trend from chop on its own, which is exactly why it should not be traded in isolation.

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How to use SuperTrend on MT5

MetaTrader 5 does not include SuperTrend in its built-in list, so you add it as a custom indicator:

Download a SuperTrend .ex5 or .mq5 file from a trusted source.
In MT5 open File, then Open Data Folder, then go to MQL5 and Indicators.
Drop the file in, then restart MT5 or refresh the Navigator panel.
Drag SuperTrend from the Navigator onto your chart and set the ATR period and multiplier in its inputs.

A common workflow is to use the line for bias and stop placement rather than as a blind buy or sell trigger. Many traders only act on a SuperTrend flip when a separate filter confirms the market is actually trending, and they trail their stop along the line as the move develops.

Pairing SuperTrend with a ranging filter

Because SuperTrend lives and dies on whether the market is trending, the single most valuable companion is a tool that measures trend strength or chop:

ADX confirms whether there is enough trend to justify acting on a flip. See our ADX explainer for how to read it.
The Choppiness Index (CHOP) flags sideways conditions where SuperTrend whipsaws are most likely.
Higher-timeframe SuperTrend as a bias filter, so you only take signals that agree with the larger trend.

Stacking tools this way is the right instinct, but it is also where traders get overwhelmed: three indicators can easily disagree. For a wider shortlist of what is worth running together, see our guide to the best MT5 indicators for 2026.

Where Market Structure Pro fits in

Honest take: SuperTrend is a strong trend tool, but on its own it gets chopped up the moment the market stops trending. That is exactly the gap Market Structure Pro was built to close.

MSP uses SuperTrend direction as one trend input inside a single fused score of 27 tools, and crucially it weighs that input against a ranging filter so it is not fooled by sideways noise. Alongside SuperTrend it reads ADX, the CHOP ranging filter, VWAP, MACD, divergence and multi-timeframe confluence, then returns one verdict, TRADE, TRANSITION or NO TRADE, plus a confidence level, an A/B/C grade, and a plain-English explanation of why. It is non-repainting and works on every MT5 instrument, so you get the trend-following edge of SuperTrend without the whipsaws it causes alone.

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Quick recap: SuperTrend is an ATR-based overlay that flips bullish below price and bearish above it. Defaults are an ATR period of 10 and a multiplier of 3. It excels in trends and provides a built-in trailing stop, but whipsaws badly in chop, so always pair it with a ranging filter such as ADX or CHOP.