The MACD of bitcoin, ether, XRP and solana on real daily and weekly prices from the Bybit exchange: the chart, every signal line crossover and what the price did next, a test of trading the crossovers with fees, and a MACD calculator for any list of prices.
Point at the chart or tap it to read any day.
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The calculator uses the fast, slow and signal settings above the chart.
StockCharts explains the standard version: "The MACD line is the 12-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) less the 26-day EMA. Closing prices are used for these moving averages. A nine-day EMA of the MACD line is plotted with the indicator, which acts as a signal line and identifies reversals." TradingView's help center adds the history: "The MACD indicator was originally created by Gerald Appel in the 1970s. In 1986, Thomas Aspray added a histogram line, which represents the difference between the MACD and signal line."
This page follows the StockCharts method for every average: "a simple moving average is used as the previous period's EMA in the first calculation," and each new value moves toward the latest close by 2 / (n + 1) of the gap. The same formulas run on daily and weekly candles, with a period of one day or one week.
The crossovers follow the StockCharts definitions: "A bullish crossover occurs when the MACD turns up and crosses above the signal line. A bearish crossover occurs when the MACD turns down and crosses below the signal line." Pick a coin and a timeframe, point at the chart to read any day, change the settings, and paste your own prices into the calculator.
At the last close in this data, September 26, 2026, bitcoin closed at $84,376.00. The MACD line stood at 2,470.35, the signal line at 2,162.60 and the histogram at 307.76. The MACD crossed above its signal line on September 21, 2026, with bitcoin at $86,572.30, ending the bearish crossover of September 4. The MACD line itself has been above zero since August 19.
The weekly chart looks different. On weekly candles the MACD crossed above its signal line in the week of July 20, 2026, but in the last full week in this data, the week of September 14, the MACD line was still slightly below zero, at -32.88. It has been below zero since the week of November 17, 2025.
Since the first signal line value on December 17, 2018, bitcoin had 105 bullish and 105 bearish crossovers on the daily chart. 90 days after a bullish crossover, bitcoin was higher 55 times out of 99, with a median change of +4.1%. After a bearish crossover it was higher 56 times out of 100, with a median of +5.1%. In other words, the direction of a daily crossover said almost nothing about the next three months.
StockCharts suggests one filter: its sample scan for bullish crossovers requires the MACD to be negative, "to ensure this upturn occurs after a pullback." In bitcoin's daily data that filter did not help. After 58 bullish crossovers below zero, bitcoin was higher 90 days later 31 times, median +2.6%, against 24 of 41 and a median of +5.9% for crossovers above zero.
The test starts with $10,000 on December 18, 2018 and trades at the next day's open with a 0.1% fee and 0.05% slippage per trade. Holding bitcoin only while the MACD was above its signal line ended at $100,140.19, against $240,626.91 for buying and holding. It traded 212 times and paid $20,494.32 in fees and slippage, and 39 of its 106 round trips made money.
Holding only while the MACD was above zero did better: $280,407.40, ahead of buying and holding, with a worst drop of 58.5% against 76.7% and a Sharpe ratio of 1.18 against 0.97. Requiring both conditions ended at $75,938.17. The other coins do not confirm a pattern: the signal line rule finished ahead of holding only for XRP and solana, and the zero line rule only for bitcoin and solana. On solana, buying and holding lost money over the test.
Paste closing prices, oldest first, and the calculator returns both averages, the MACD, the signal line and the histogram for the last 15 prices. It needs 26 prices for the first MACD value and 34 for the first signal value with the standard settings. Because every average carries its whole past, a short list gives different values: from bitcoin's last 60 daily closes, the MACD on September 26 comes out 114.26 higher than on the chart above, which starts in 2018. From the last 200 closes the MACD and the signal line are both within a cent of the chart's values.
For the idea behind the indicator, read what is the MACD indicator. The bitcoin golden cross page tracks two simple averages, and moving averages explained compares simple and exponential averages.
Educational, not financial advice. The MACD describes how past prices moved. It does not predict the next move or recommend buying or selling any coin.
At the last close in this data, September 26, 2026, bitcoin's daily MACD (12, 26, 9) was 2,470.35, with the signal line at 2,162.60 and the histogram at 307.76. The MACD has been above its signal line since the bullish crossover of September 21, 2026.
Take the 12-period exponential moving average of the closes and subtract the 26-period one: that is the MACD line. The signal line is the 9-period exponential average of the MACD line, and the histogram is the MACD minus the signal line. The calculator on this page shows every step for any list of prices.
Not on its own in this data. Of the 99 bullish daily crossovers since December 2018 that are at least 90 days old, 55 were followed by a higher price 90 days later, about as often as after bearish ones (56 of 100). Trading every crossover with fees ended at $100,140.19 from $10,000, against $240,626.91 for buying and holding.
No setting works best in every market. 12, 26 and 9 are the standard values. StockCharts notes that "MACD(5,35,5) is more sensitive than MACD(12,26,9) and might be better suited for weekly charts." Change the settings above the chart and the crossover table and the test update at once.
The gap between the MACD line and its signal line. It is above zero when the MACD is above the signal line and below zero when it is under it, and it crosses zero exactly at a signal line crossover. Shrinking bars mean the two lines are converging.