Supertrend Indicator for MT5: Install It, Run 10/3 on M30, and Skip the H1 Filter

This is the practical page of a three-part Supertrend series. My Supertrend settings test ran 16 combinations on EURUSD M5, and my Supertrend MT5 vs MT4 comparison tested nine timeframes and two ways of averaging the ATR. Here is how to put the indicator on an MT5 chart and set it the way those tests point.

If you use MT4 rather than MT5, my original Supertrend guide for MT4 covers the same indicator there.

What does the Supertrend indicator do?

Supertrend draws one line. In an uptrend it sits below price; in a downtrend it sits above. The line is placed a set number of ATRs — the multiplier — away from the middle of each bar, and it is only allowed to move in the direction of the trend. When a bar closes through it, the line jumps to the other side and changes colour. That jump is the signal.

Two inputs control everything: the ATR period, which sets how many bars the volatility is averaged over, and the multiplier, which sets how far away the line sits. The usual default is 10 and 3.

How do I install Supertrend on MT5?

MetaTrader 5’s standard indicator list does not include Supertrend, so it is always a custom file. Free versions are available in the MQL5 Code Base and elsewhere. Use a file built for MT5 — an .mq5 or .ex5 file — because MT4 indicators do not run on MT5.

1. In MT5, open File → Open Data Folder.
2. Open MQL5, then Indicators, and copy the Supertrend file there.
3. Back in MT5, right-click Indicators in the Navigator window and choose Refresh, or restart the platform.
4. Drag Supertrend from the Navigator onto your chart.
5. In the Inputs tab, set the ATR period and multiplier. Leave the rest at defaults unless you know what they do.
6. If your version has an ATR method or smoothing input, note which one it uses — see the smoothing section below.

The full walkthrough is in how to add indicators to MT5.

What settings should I use on MT5?

Start with the timeframe, because it moved the result far more than any setting did. Here is Supertrend 10/3 on EURUSD across the timeframes with at least 30 trades, after a 1-pip cost per trade:

Then the settings. On M5, where all 16 combinations were tested, none was profitable, but the pattern is useful anywhere:

• The multiplier is the input that matters. At period 10, multiplier 1.5 produced 1,778 trades and multiplier 4 produced 458. Changing the period from 7 to 20 at multiplier 3 changed trades by only 20.
• Higher multipliers lost less. All four multiplier-4 settings finished in the top four; 14/4 was best at -1.41 pips per trade on M5, against -2.21 for 10/3.
• Do not tighten for scalping. 14/2 traded 1,278 times on M5 and lost 2,462.2 pips, against 1,634.4 for 10/3.

My starting point on MT5 is therefore the default 10/3 on M30, and 14/4 if you must use a chart below M30. On gold, the same 10/3 on M30 made +$2.98 per trade over 52 trades, but it lost in the half of the data when gold fell — the gold picture is in my gold settings test.

Does Supertrend repaint on MT5?

Not on closed bars. To check, I took 450 points spread across the EURUSD history and recalculated Supertrend at each one using only the bars that existed at that moment, then compared the direction with the version calculated on the full history. It matched on all 450.

What does move is the line on the bar that is still forming. If price pushes through the line mid-bar and pulls back before the close, the colour can change and change back. That is not repainting in the dangerous sense — history does not change — but an alert or an order placed on that mid-bar flip is acting on a signal that may not exist at the close. Wait for the bar to close.

If you have been burned by indicators whose arrows moved after the fact, my test of arrow indicators that repaint covers what that looks like and why it wrecks a backtest.

Why does Supertrend lose on fast charts?

A typical M5 trend lasted less than an hour and a half, and more than a third ended within an hour. Every flip costs a spread, and most flips arrive before price has moved far enough to pay for the last one. A 30-minute chart flips a tenth as often — 80 times against 738 — so each trend has room to cover its cost.

Using the flip as an entry with a fixed exit did not fix M5 either. Held for 4 hours, the 10/3 flip made +0.31 pips per trade before costs and -0.69 after; held for 60 minutes, -1.15 after costs.

Should I add a higher-timeframe filter?

It is the most common Supertrend upgrade: take M5 signals only when the H1 Supertrend points the same way.

The filter removed 390 trades and the ones it kept were worse. The total loss shrank only because there were fewer trades. If you want a filter, Supertrend works better as the filter than as the thing being filtered — in my ADX vs Supertrend comparison it made a losing EMA system less bad, and my ADX guide for MT5 covers the other half of that pairing.

Which ATR smoothing should my Supertrend use?

Supertrend files differ in how they average the ATR. MetaTrader’s own ATR indicator uses a simple average of the true range; TradingView’s Supertrend uses Wilder’s smoothing. On EURUSD M5 the two versions of 10/3 pointed in opposite directions on 7.54% of bars.

Neither version is “correct”. The simple average flipped more often in both cases; it did slightly worse on M5 and better on M30. What matters is knowing which one you have, so you are not comparing your results with numbers from a different indicator.

My MT5 Supertrend setup card

Measure your own spread before you trust any of this: the method is in my spread and swap cost test, and it works the same way on MT5.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a Supertrend indicator in MT5?

Not among the standard indicators. It has to be added as a custom indicator: copy an MT5 version of the file into MQL5 → Indicators, refresh the Navigator and drag it onto a chart. MT4 versions will not run on MT5.

What is the best Supertrend setting for MT5?

In these tests, the default 10/3 on the M30 chart: +1.62 pips per trade over 80 EURUSD trades after a 1-pip cost, positive in both halves of the data. On M5, all 16 settings lost and 14/4 lost least, at -1.41 pips per trade.

Does Supertrend repaint in MT5?

Not on closed bars — 450 recalculations using only past data gave the same direction every time. The line on the current, unfinished bar can change until that bar closes, so signals should be taken on the close.

What is the best timeframe for Supertrend in MT5?

M30 in this data. MT5’s extra timeframes did not beat it: EURUSD M20 lost 0.22 pips per trade and M10 lost 1.49, while M30 made +1.62. H1 lost 8.67 pips per trade.

Can I use Supertrend with a multi-timeframe filter?

You can, but on EURUSD M5 requiring the H1 Supertrend to agree made each trade worse, from -2.21 to -2.50 pips. It removed 390 trades without removing the bad ones. Moving the whole indicator to M30 did far more than filtering M5.