WaveTrend Settings and Timeframes: 30 Settings Tested
30 WaveTrend settings backtested on USD/JPY across 2025 and 2024. All 30 were profitable on hourly bars in 2025, and the default placed second of them.
WaveTrend measures how far the bar midpoint has moved from its own average, divided by the typical size of that gap. Standardising the deviation gives two lines, and their crossings are the signal.
I tested two parameters across 30 combinations on USD/JPY through the whole of 2025, on three timeframes, then ran the same 30 on 2024.
All 30 were profitable on hourly bars in 2025, and all 30 were profitable on four-hour bars in 2024. On 15-minute bars, not one was profitable in both years.
Which timeframe does WaveTrend work on?
Not the 15-minute chart, where no setting finished profitable.
| Timeframe | Year | Profitable settings | Median annual net | Median annual trades |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15-minute | 2025 | 2 / 30 | −2,142 pips | 3,598 |
| 15-minute | 2024 | 1 / 30 | −953 pips | — |
| 1-hour | 2025 | 30 / 30 | +2,466 pips | 838 |
| 1-hour | 2024 | 24 / 30 | +1,185 pips | — |
| 4-hour | 2025 | 29 / 30 | +1,318 pips | 224 |
| 4-hour | 2024 | 30 / 30 | +1,566 pips | — |
At 3,600 trades a year, only one of 30 made money in 2024 on 15-minute bars, and none survived both years. A 0.3 pip spread costs about 1,080 pips at that count, and nothing here earned past it.
Hourly and four-hour results were much stronger. On four-hour bars, 29 of 30 settings were profitable in both years, among the highest survival counts of the nine indicators tested this way.
Is the 10/21 default good enough?
The two years disagreed.
| Setting | Year | Annual net |
|---|---|---|
| Default 10/21 | 2025 | +3,283.4 pips |
| Default 10/21 | 2024 | +1,076.6 pips |
| 2025 maximum, 20/15 | 2025 | +3,496.9 pips |
| 2025 maximum, 20/15 | 2024 | +606.9 pips |
| 2024 maximum, 30/30 | 2025 | +2,248.7 pips |
| 2024 maximum, 30/30 | 2024 | +2,938.9 pips |
| 2025 minimum, 5/10 | 2025 | +1,339.6 pips |
| 2025 minimum, 5/10 | 2024 | −1,266.5 pips |
The 2025 difference is 213.5 pips. In 2024, the default finished 469.7 pips ahead of 20/15. One year did not justify changing away from the default.
The smallest hourly result in 2025 was still +1,339.6 pips. The same 5/10 setting lost −1,266.5 pips in 2024.
Does four-hour tell the same story?
There the default was profitable in both years.
| Setting | Year | Annual net |
|---|---|---|
| Default 10/21 | 2025 | +1,262.2 pips |
| Default 10/21 | 2024 | +1,373.5 pips |
| 2025 maximum, 20/21 | 2025 | +2,476.8 pips |
| 2025 maximum, 20/21 | 2024 | +506.1 pips |
| 2024 maximum, 5/10 | 2025 | +1,232.4 pips |
| 2024 maximum, 5/10 | 2024 | +3,321.3 pips |
| 2025 minimum, 30/45 | 2025 | −98.2 pips |
| 2025 minimum, 30/45 | 2024 | +1,009.8 pips |
The default produced +1,262.2 pips in 2025 and +1,373.5 pips in 2024. The 30/45 setting changed sign, from −98.2 pips to +1,009.8 pips.
Can win rate pick the setting?
It cannot. Across the 30 hourly settings in 2025, win rates ran from 33.48% to 39.45%, while annual net ranged from +1,339.6 to +3,496.9 pips.
On 15-minute bars, 28 of 30 settings lost money in 2025. The 3,598-trade median and its cost matter more than a higher win rate.
Adding WaveTrend to a chart
| Platform | How to add it |
|---|---|
| MT4 / MT5 | Not included. Download an .ex4 or .mq4 into MQL4/Indicators (MQL5/Indicators on MT5), restart |
| TradingView | In the indicator list as "WaveTrend" |
| Browser (Formiq) | In the indicator list, with channel and average periods adjustable |
How this was measured
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Pair | USD/JPY |
| Period | 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 (2024 run identically for comparison) |
| Timeframes | 15-minute / 1-hour / 4-hour |
| Bars tested | 6,226 hourly bars in 2025; 24,903 on 15-minute, 1,610 on 4-hour |
| Buy | wt1 crosses above wt2, filled at that bar's close |
| Sell | wt1 crosses below wt2 |
| Exit | The opposite crossover only — no stop, no target, no time exit |
| Costs | 0.3 pip spread, zero slippage, 0.1 lot |
| Combinations | 6 channel periods (5–30) × 5 average periods (10–45) = 30 |
| Method | Executed in Formiq's backtester; pips recomputed from each trade's fill prices |
The same method applied to OsMA, Accelerator Oscillator, Stoch RSI, STC, QQE, Aroon, RVI, Supertrend, Williams %R and MFI.
Notes
- One pair, two years
- WaveTrend implementations differ (the constants used to standardise the deviation, the smoothing type). These figures come from Formiq's
- Only the two-line crossover is tested; overbought and oversold bands such as ±60 are not
- Entries and exits both fill at bar closes
- The spread is modelled as a flat 0.3 pips; the 15-minute result depends heavily on that
- Four-hour settings trade 147 to 325 times a year
Questions people ask
- What are the best WaveTrend settings?
- On hourly bars in 2025, the 20/15 setting produced +3,496.9 pips from 747 trades and the default 10/21 produced +3,283.4 pips from 867 trades, a 213.5-pip difference. In 2024, the default produced +1,076.6 pips and 20/15 produced +606.9 pips.
- Which timeframe suits WaveTrend?
- Hourly and four-hour. All 30 settings were profitable on hourly bars in 2025 with 24 profitable in both years, and 29 of 30 were profitable in both years on four-hour bars. On 15-minute bars, none were: that version trades about 3,600 times a year.
- What does WaveTrend measure?
- How far the bar midpoint sits from its own moving average, divided by the average size of that gap. Standardising the deviation produces two lines, and trades come from their crossings.
- What win rate does WaveTrend produce?
- Across the 30 hourly settings in 2025, win rates ran from 33.48% to 39.45%, with a median of 36.9%. Annual net ranged from +1,339.6 to +3,496.9 pips, so win rate alone did not identify the larger result.
- Is WaveTrend built into MetaTrader?
- No, neither MT4 nor MT5 includes it. You download an .ex4 or .mq4 into MQL4/Indicators (MQL5/Indicators on MT5) and restart. TradingView lists it as "WaveTrend". Formiq's charts include it with both parameters adjustable.
Formiq is a free browser-based FX terminal with replay practice and no-code backtesting. Open the chart or see what the free plan includes.