Multi-timeframe Supertrend
This positional Supertrend system uses two timeframes. The daily Supertrend sets the direction: trades are taken only while it is green. The 125-minute Supertrend, three candles per session, times the entry: when it turns green, the strategy buys NIFTY futures once price breaks the high of that signal candle. It is long only and holds until the 125-minute line turns red or the stop is hit.How it trades
Results
PRE-BUILT · DEFAULTSWhere it made and lost money
Eight trades in a year are too few for any condition to be judged; every bucket in the evidence is small. They do show the typical shape of a trend filter on a choppy year. The single winner, held while NIFTY rose more than 1%, made ₹48,420. The four entries on gap-up days lost ₹57,943 together: the breakout above the signal candle came on an opening jump that then faded back to the candle's low. The three entries on choppy, wide-range days lost ₹59,358. On a 125-minute chart, the stop at the signal candle's low is often hundreds of points away, so each failed breakout is costly.
About this strategy
- Build 125-minute candles of the NIFTY near-month future, three per session, and daily candles of the same future.
- Compute a Supertrend with a 14-period ATR and a multiplier of 2 on both timeframes.
- Only consider trades when yesterday's completed daily Supertrend was green.
- When a 125-minute candle closes with the Supertrend turning from red to green, mark that candle's high and low.
- Buy one lot when price trades above the signal candle's high within the next three candles; skip it if the line turns red first.
- Exit at the signal candle's low, or at the next tick after a 125-minute candle closes with the Supertrend turning red.
- On futures expiry day, close at 15:15 and rebuy in the next month's contract at the next session's first tick.
Why traders use it
Supertrend is one of the most widely used indicators among Indian futures traders because it gives a clear trend direction and a built-in trailing level. Requiring the daily line to agree with the intraday one is a classic way to trade only with the bigger trend, and waiting for price to break the signal candle's high confirms buyers are following through. The 125-minute timeframe splits the session into three equal parts, a popular compromise between hourly noise and slow daily signals.
The year in plain words
On NIFTY futures from 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 the two Supertrends lined up only eight times. One trade won, making ₹48,420 in October 2025, and seven lost, for a ₹57,136 loss before costs and ₹58,812 after ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage. Six trades were stopped at the signal candle's low and two closed when the 125-minute line turned red. The losers averaged about ₹15,080, with the worst at about ₹30,040 in May 2026. The maximum drawdown before costs was about ₹1.06 lakh. With so few trades, one more big trend would have changed the picture entirely.
What the settings do
Risks
- The stop at the signal candle's low can be far from the entry on a 125-minute chart, so single losses are large.
- Signals are rare, around eight a year, so a long run of losers is possible before a trend appears.
- The position is held overnight, often for days, and is exposed to gaps beyond the stop.
- Long only: the strategy earns nothing in falling markets and can be whipsawed in sideways ones.
Who it suits
Trend followers who like Supertrend and want a slower, filtered version for NIFTY futures, with margin for a positional lot and patience for few trades and large individual swings.
Questions traders ask
What is a multi-timeframe Supertrend strategy?
It uses a Supertrend on a higher timeframe, here daily, to set the trend direction and another on a lower timeframe, here 125 minutes, to time entries. Trades are taken only when both agree, which aims to avoid trading against the main trend.
Is the multi-timeframe Supertrend profitable on NIFTY?
Not in this test. From 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 it lost ₹57,136 before costs and ₹58,812 after ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage, over eight trades with one winner. Statutory charges were excluded. Past results do not guarantee future ones.
Why 125-minute candles?
From 09:15, three 125-minute candles cover the session, with the last one running to the close. It gives a clean three-part view of each day: slower than hourly, faster than daily.
What Supertrend settings are used?
A 14-period ATR with a multiplier of 2 on both timeframes. A higher multiplier would flip less often, giving even fewer signals; a lower one would react faster but whipsaw more.