Williams %R Settings for MT4: The Default 14 Lost 0.27 Pips a Trade on M5 and Made 5.87 on H1

Williams %R comes built into MetaTrader 4, so there is nothing to download. The questions are the usual ones: which period, which levels, which chart. I answered them with a backtest instead of a rule of thumb. The full test on the 5-minute chart — 135 setups — is in my Williams %R test.

If MT4 is not installed yet, start with downloading MetaTrader 4 on a PC and my first chart setup.

How do I add Williams %R to a chart in MT4?

1. Open the chart, for example EURUSD H1.
2. Go to Insert → Indicators → Oscillators → Williams’ Percent Range. It is also in the Navigator window under Indicators → Oscillators.
3. On the Parameters tab, set the Period. The default is 14.
4. On the Levels tab, MT4 already has -20 and -80. Leave them, or change them to -10 and -90 for fewer signals.
5. Click OK. %R opens in its own window under the chart, moving between 0 at the top and -100 at the bottom.

A reading of 0 means the bar closed at the highest price of the last 14 bars. -100 means it closed at the lowest. Above -20 is called overbought, below -80 oversold. There is no signal line — if you want one, use Stochastic instead; my %R vs Stochastic test shows the two are the same line on a different scale.

How were the settings tested?

• EURUSD: 16,926 M5 bars from June 3 to August 26, 2026, rebuilt into M15, M30 and H1 — all standard MT4 timeframes — so every chart covers the same period.
• Gold: 13,736 XAUUSD M5 bars from June 16 to August 26.
• Fade: sell when %R rises into -20, buy when it drops into -80. Exit: when %R reaches the opposite level.
• Momentum: the reverse — buy when %R rises into -20, sell when it drops into -80, exit at the opposite level.
• Cost: 1 pip per EURUSD trade and $0.30 per ounce on gold, as in my spread test and gold vs EURUSD test. Every result is split at July 15.

What is the best Williams %R period?

On M5, the period changed little. With the fade and the default levels, every period from 7 to 28 lost between 0.23 and 0.42 pips per trade. Longer periods mostly lost slightly less, because each signal waited for a bigger range. What changed the result was the chart.

Which timeframe works best for Williams %R?

Net pips per trade after a 1-pip cost; trades in brackets.

The move from M5 to H1 is the biggest effect in this whole test. On M5, a trade’s typical swing is a few pips, so the 1-pip cost eats most of the 0.73 pips the fade earns. On H1, the typical winner is tens of pips, and the same cost barely registers. Period 14 on H1 won 78.6% of its trades; period 21 won 82.6%.

Now the honest part. 56 trades on H1 is what almost three months of hourly bars give you, and one bad trend week could erase it. Both H1 settings were positive in both halves, which makes this more than a lucky streak, but it is a setting to forward test, not proof. M15 with period 21 is the result I trust more: three times the trades, positive in both halves, and a smaller, steadier edge.

M30 looked positive overall but made all of it in the first half and lost in the second. The same “higher chart pays, M5 doesn’t” pattern showed up for ADX and Supertrend in my ADX settings for MT4 guide.

Should you follow %R instead of fading it?

Not on EURUSD. The momentum version lost on every chart, and more on higher ones:

That is expected: with this exit, the momentum trade is the mirror of the fade, so when the fade earns, following loses the same plus the cost.

Does Williams %R work on gold?

Gold flipped the picture:

Dollars per ounce per trade. On a 0.01 lot, $1 per ounce is $1.

On gold, fading %R was break-even before costs at best and lost after them. Following it was slightly positive, and with period 21 held to the opposite level it made money in both halves — a small edge, $0.20 per ounce, but on the right side. Gold trends harder once it moves, which is also why the ADX DI cross paid on gold and not on EURUSD. My best MT4 settings for gold test compares other indicators on the same gold bars.

What Williams %R settings would I use on MT4?

• EURUSD: fade %R on M15 with period 21, or on H1 with the default 14. Sell the touch of -20, buy the touch of -80, exit at the opposite level. Both were positive in both halves.
• Skip M5 unless your spread is well under a pip. The edge there, about 0.7 pips before costs, is smaller than a normal spread.
• Keep the default levels -20 and -80 on higher charts. On H1, they already give about one trade a day.
• On gold, do not fade %R. If you use it at all, use it the other way round, with period 21.
• Do not add Stochastic next to %R. It is the same indicator.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Williams %R in MT4?

Insert → Indicators → Oscillators → Williams’ Percent Range, or in the Navigator window under Indicators → Oscillators. It opens in its own window with levels at -20 and -80 already drawn.

What is the best Williams %R setting for MT4?

On EURUSD, the default period 14 on H1 did best: +5.87 pips per trade after costs over 56 trades, positive in both halves. With a larger sample, period 21 on M15 made +0.55 pips per trade over 178 trades, also positive in both halves. On M5 every period lost.

What timeframe is best for Williams %R?

H1 and M15 in this test. The same fade lost 0.27 pips per trade on M5 and made +5.87 on H1 with period 14, because the cost is small compared to the size of an hourly move.

Does Williams %R work for gold?

Not as an overbought/oversold fade: it lost at periods 14 and 21 after a $0.30 cost. Used the other way round — buy above -20, sell below -80 — period 21 made $0.20 per ounce per trade, positive in both halves of the data.

Should I change the -20 and -80 levels?

On M5, moving them to -5 and -95 brought period 14 to break-even, -0.01 pips per trade. On M15 and H1, the default levels already worked. Change the chart before you change the levels.