Donchian Channels Best Settings for 4h: Default vs Top Settings Backtested (Fees Included)
Is the default Donchian Channels (Donchian Channels) good enough? TradingView loads Donchian Channels with 20 out of the box, so we checked how those exact inputs held up in the latest market. We ran all 480 setting combinations on 10 coins (BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, BNB, DOGE, ADA, LINK, SUI and HYPE) across 15m, 30m, 1h and 4h, with a 0.11% fee taken out of every trade. The figures in this post are as of 2026-11-06, and every result is recomputed nightly with fresh data.
What is Donchian Channels?
What does each Donchian Channels setting change?
TradingView default: 20.
How did the default 20 do?
On 4h, the default 20 did best on BTC at —%, and finished positive after fees on 0 of 10 coins. On 4h, the default averaged —% while the strongest setting combination under the same conditions hit +35.50%: a 35.5-point difference.
How much does the timeframe matter?
| Timeframe | Default avg. return | Positive settings | Avg. trades |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15m | —% | 22% | 233 |
| 30m | —% | 39% | 114 |
| 1h | —% | 71% | 57 |
| 4h | —% | 90% | 15 |
The positive share peaked on 4h (90%) and bottomed on 15m (22%). More frequent trading meant a heavier fee drag. 15m averaged 233 trades, so fees alone took about 25.6 points; 4h averaged 15 trades and about 1.7 points.
Coin-by-coin results on 4h
All on 4h. Return, win rate, MDD and trades are for the default 20; the positive share covers every setting combination on that coin.
| Coin | Return | Win rate | MDD | Trades | Positive settings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTC | —% | — | — | — | 100% |
| ETH | —% | — | — | — | 100% |
| SOL | —% | — | — | — | 67% |
| XRP | —% | — | — | — | 83% |
| BNB | —% | — | — | — | 92% |
| DOGE | —% | — | — | — | 92% |
| ADA | —% | — | — | — | 100% |
| LINK | —% | — | — | — | 100% |
| SUI | —% | — | — | — | 100% |
| HYPE | —% | — | — | — | 67% |
BTC was strongest, while 0 coins stayed negative on the default — the coin split is as visible as the timeframe split.
What did the highest setting combinations return?
The three highest-returning setting combinations on 4h.
- LINK 4h: +35.50% — settings are 🔒 unlocked in PRO
- SUI 4h: +34.01% — settings are 🔒 unlocked in PRO
- LINK 4h: +32.85% — settings are 🔒 unlocked in PRO
One high result on its own can be a short lucky streak. The indicator analysis page shows whether nearby setting combinations held up too.
How should you read these results?
Return alone hides a lot. With few trades, a handful of big ones can decide the result, and MDD shows the deepest drop in the window. Everything here is past 90-day data and says nothing about what comes next.
In short
In this data, Donchian Channels had its highest positive share on 4h at 90%, and the TradingView default (20) was positive on 0 of 10 coins. On the same 4h, the gap between the top setting combination and the default average was 35.5 points.
Method: past 90 days · 0.11% fee per trade · fills at the next bar's open after the signal · Methodology
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More Donchian Channels posts · More 4h posts
See the full Donchian Channels indicator analysis for BTC 4h →
See it on TradingView — free Chrome extension →
Past 90-day results, 0.11% fee per trade included, not a prediction.
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