MACD for crypto: line, signal and histogram
MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence) is the difference between a 12-period and a 26-period EMA, plotted with a 9-period signal line. When the MACD line sits above the signal line and the histogram is positive, momentum is bullish; below and negative is bearish. The histogram's slope shows whether that momentum is growing or fading.
Reading the three parts
The MACD line is EMA 12 minus EMA 26: positive when the fast average is above the slow one. The signal line is a 9-period EMA of MACD. The histogram is MACD minus signal. Crossovers get the attention, but the histogram tells the better story: bars shrinking toward zero warn that a cross is coming; bars growing confirm the move.
MACD on fast crypto charts
On 1h BTC the MACD histogram is quoted in dollars, so a reading of 50 or 100 is a meaningful push at 80,000 while 5 is noise. MACD lags by design; it is a trend-confirmation tool, not an entry timer. Use it to avoid fading a move that still has a growing histogram.
How the SIMMENT desk uses MACD
The dashboard tile shows the histogram value with a BULLISH or BEARISH label. In the engine score a bullish cross with positive histogram adds two votes and a large histogram adds one more. The setup filter adds two votes the same way. Both must agree with the rest of the vote before the auto desk fills.
Quick answers
What MACD settings does SIMMENT use?
12, 26, 9 on whichever timeframe the chart shows. The dashboard uses 1h.
This metric is a tile on the SIMMENT paper desk. Open a free account, get 10,000 virtual USDT and watch it on live Binance prices. Enter the desk → · iOS app
Educational content. Simulated trading only. Not financial advice. Updated 2026-09-06.