Supertrend intraday
This is the classic Supertrend intraday system applied to NIFTY futures. A Supertrend line with a 10-bar ATR and a multiplier of 3 is drawn on 5-minute bars; when price closes above the line the strategy buys one lot of the near-month future, and it gets out when price closes back below the line or at 15:15, whichever comes first.How it trades
Results
PRE-BUILT · DEFAULTSWhere it made and lost money
In this test the Supertrend system made money only when the market gave it room to run. After evenings when India VIX closed above 14.5 it earned ₹61,711 over 44 trades, while calm evenings below 11.5 cost ₹43,591 over 46 trades. Quiet sessions with a range under 0.75% lost ₹58,616 over 58 trades, and flat opens lost ₹92,548 over 106 trades. Being long only, direction mattered most: +₹1,76,919 on 84 days NIFTY closed above its open, -₹2,10,186 on 71 days it closed below. A 3-ATR band needs a real move to flip and then to pay; small days produce late entries that are stopped by the flip back or the 15:15 exit.
About this strategy
- Build 5-minute bars from near-month NIFTY futures, starting at 09:15 each session.
- Draw Supertrend(10, 3): an ATR-based band that trails price and flips side when a bar closes through it. The line carries over from one day to the next.
- If a 5-minute bar that closes between 09:30 and 15:00 flips the trend up, buy one lot of the future on the next tick.
- If a later bar closes below the line, sell the future on the next tick. A fresh upward flip can open another trade the same day.
- At 15:15, close any position still open. Nothing is carried overnight.
- By default only long trades are taken; the Direction setting can add short trades on downward flips.
Why traders use it
Supertrend turns a trend-following idea into one visible line: above it you are long, below it you are out. Because the band is built from ATR, it widens on volatile days and tightens on quiet ones, so the exit adapts to conditions without manual tweaking. The 10 and 3 settings are the defaults on most charting tools, which is why this exact version is so widely tested by Indian futures traders looking for a mechanical intraday system.
The year in plain words
On NIFTY futures from 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 with default settings, the system took 156 trades and won only 42% of them, losing ₹27,580 before costs (profit factor 0.92). Winners averaged ₹4,955 against ₹3,842 for losers, but there were too few of them. Slightly more trades ended at the 15:15 square-off (81) than on a Supertrend flip (75). April and May made ₹33,656 and ₹37,136, yet October alone lost ₹30,409, and the drawdown reached ₹99,269. After ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage the loss widens to ₹67,079.
What the settings do
Risks
- One lot of NIFTY futures is a large position; a single bad trade lost ₹15,671 in this test.
- Whipsaw days can generate several losing trades in a row, and each round trip pays costs.
- Exits happen only on a closed bar plus the next tick, so a sharp move inside a 5-minute bar is not cut short.
- Futures need margin, and a drawdown near ₹1 lakh before costs can last for months.
Who it suits
Traders who prefer a simple, chart-based rule they can follow or automate on futures, have margin for at least one NIFTY lot, and can sit through long losing stretches waiting for trend months.
Questions traders ask
What are the usual Supertrend settings for intraday trading?
The most common setting is a 10-period ATR with a multiplier of 3, which is what this backtest uses on 5-minute bars. Traders who want faster signals lower the multiplier or the bar size, but that also raises the number of false flips and trading costs.
Is the Supertrend intraday strategy profitable on NIFTY?
Not in this test. From 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 the long-only version lost ₹27,580 before costs and ₹67,079 after ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage, with a maximum drawdown of ₹99,269 before costs. Two strong months could not offset the rest. Past results do not guarantee future ones in either direction.
Why does the backtest buy on the next tick instead of the bar close?
You only know a bar has closed above the line after the bar is complete, so the earliest realistic fill is the first trade after that. Filling at the bar's own close price would use information you could not have acted on, which flatters results.
Does the strategy hold positions overnight?
No. Every open position is squared off at 15:15, well before the 15:40 F&O close, so there is no overnight gap risk. The Supertrend line itself, however, is calculated continuously across days.