How the SuperTrend + ATR Trailing Stop Works
The supertrend + atr trailing stop is one of the most widely-used signals in trading. It’s simple, mechanical, and removes emotional decision-making from your trading by generating clear entry and exit signals based on the SuperTrend indicator.
On SPY, the SuperTrend acts as a trend filter. It won’t catch every exact bottom, but it reliably captures the meat of major moves while keeping you out of chop.
5-Year Performance on SPY
Over five years (2021-07-06 → 2026-07-02), the SuperTrend + ATR Trailing Stop delivered a -19.7% total return on SPY, compounding at -4.3% annually.
At -0.47, the SuperTrend earned less than one units of return for every unit of risk taken. For context, anything above 1.0 is considered good; above 1.5 is excellent.
The catch? A 30.6% max drawdown. At some point during this 5-year run, you’d have been down nearly 31% from peak equity. That’s stomach-churning territory for most traders. If you can’t handle that kind of drawdown, this isn’t for you — or you need to size down.
Risk Assessment
| Metric | Value | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Sharpe Ratio | -0.47 | ❌ Weak |
| Max Drawdown | 30.6% | ⚠️ Significant |
| Win Rate | 42.3% | ⚠️ Below average |
| Profit Factor | 0.87 | ❌ Unprofitable |
| Trades/Year | ~298 total | Active |
The profit factor of 0.87 tells the real story: when the SuperTrend fires, the winning signals don’t outweigh the losers. Combined with a 42.3% win rate, this requires careful position sizing to be profitable.
Does the SuperTrend + ATR Trailing Stop Work on SPY?
The supertrend + atr trailing stop struggled to generate meaningful edge on SPY over this 5-year period. With a -0.47 Sharpe ratio and 0.87 profit factor, the risk-adjusted returns are below what most systematic traders would consider acceptable.
This doesn’t mean the SuperTrend is useless — it may work better on different assets, timeframes, or when combined with other filters. But on SPY with default parameters over 5 years, it didn’t produce a compelling standalone edge.
Our take: skip it on SPY unless you’re combining it with other confirmations or using it on different timeframes.
Lab Original — Invite-Only
Get SuperTrend + ATR Trailing Stop on TradingView
This backtest simulates the core logic behind our SuperTrend + ATR Trailing Stop script. The real thing runs live on TradingView with full alert conditions, multi-timeframe support, and phone notifications.
Data source: Yahoo Finance (yfinance). Backtest engine: backtrader. 95% position sizing. 0.1% commission per trade. Last refreshed: July 04, 2026. Not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Year-by-Year Breakdown
| Year | Return | Trades | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | +10.4% | 27 | 42.3% |
| 2022 | -18.6% | 60 | 42.3% |
| 2023 | +26.7% | 62 | 42.3% |
| 2024 | +25.6% | 59 | 42.3% |
| 2025 | +18.0% | 66 | 42.3% |
| 2026 | +9.6% | 24 | 42.3% |
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