# Supertrend indicator

> Supertrend is an ATR-based trailing stop plotted on price — a band that trails below price in an uptrend and above it in a downtrend, flipping sides when price closes through it.

Canonical: https://patternsradar.com/learn/supertrend

Supertrend draws a band a multiple of ATR away from the price midpoint — here the standard (10, 3): three times the 10-period ATR. While the trend is up the band sits below price and ratchets upward, never retreating; when a close breaks through it, the indicator flips to the other side and starts trailing from above. Because the distance is ATR-scaled, the stop sits wide on volatile stocks and tight on quiet ones, one definition fitting both.

In Sift it exposes two members: supertrend().value is the band's price level, and supertrend().dir is +1 while bullish, −1 while bearish. The flip is the traded event — a stop-and-reverse, not an oscillator reading — and holders use the value directly as the exit line under a position. On daily NSE bars the standard screen is dir equal to +1 with an ADX condition beside it, because the flip only means something where a trend exists to flip into.

The failure mode is chop, and it is severe. In a rangebound stock price crosses the band repeatedly and Supertrend flips with every swing — a sequence of small losses that is the known, accepted price of the trend-following trade. The indicator has no mechanism for recognising a range; it will follow every false start with full conviction. Its popularity also invites the misreading that a flip predicts a trend, when it only ever confirms that price crossed a trailing line.

Its nearest relative is the parabolic SAR, another stop-and-reverse: SAR accelerates toward price as a move ages, so it tightens with time, while Supertrend's distance breathes with volatility instead. Supertrend is the more forgiving of the two in a trend that pauses; SAR exits sooner when momentum fades.

## In Sift

Written as `supertrend().value / .dir`. A working scan — stocks on the bullish side of their Supertrend with enough trend strength to trust the flip:

```sift
where supertrend().dir == 1 and adx(14) > 20
```

1 of the 500 most-traded NSE stocks match today, as of 2026-08-20.

## Common questions

### Is the Supertrend indicator reliable?

It is reliable at what it actually does — trailing a stop under a trend — and unreliable at what it is often sold as, predicting one. In trending stocks it keeps you in for the bulk of the move; in sideways stocks it flips constantly and bleeds small losses. Its record on any scan is replayable here against past sessions, which beats taking either claim on faith.

### What do the Supertrend settings (10, 3) mean?

The band is placed three times the 10-period ATR away from the price midpoint — 10 is the ATR length, 3 the multiplier. A larger multiplier flips less often and gives back more of each move; a smaller one exits earlier and whipsaws more. PatternsRadar precomputes the standard (10, 3).

### What does a Supertrend flip mean?

That price closed through the trailing band, moving the indicator to the other side — supertrend().dir changing between +1 and −1. It is a stop being hit and reversed, which confirms the prior swing ended. Whether a new trend follows depends on the regime, which is why flips are usually screened with ADX above 20.