Yeah, the MACD can be helpful. I view it. I also look at the RSI and the 90 day MA and 200 day MA. But what I trust the most are the momentum of the candlesticks, the news, and the support and resistance zones. The indicators come in second, since they all lag. It's the chart that dictates what the indicators will do...
It does not work, that why you do not get many answers here. If you are new all what you can imagine does not work. It takes about 10 years hard work full-time, before you have a chance to make decent money. If you think it is easy with that kind of simple TA stuff you have no the slightest idea how difficult it is.
If MACD line is set to 5 and signal line is set to 9, then we get quicker signals. On the other hand, this can whipsaw too.
MACD loses traction if there is a major gap up or gap down. It becomes unreliable for a brief period of time. That unreliability time lasts for 33 periods after the day opens. This is one thing we should keep in mind.
There is no Holy Grail in trading. Everything is an assumption, compromise and, is based on probability. Whatever approach we take to trading, we should know the advantages and limitations of our approach and act accordingly. If we don't rely on MACD, then we rely on something else which can be equally bad.
If it's bad then why are you using it??? The best you're going to get is the candlesticks. The higher the timeframe, the more weight they hold. You can use this to your advantage, because if you know the trend on the higher timeframes, then you can trade accordingly on the lower timeframes.
It's very simple. All you need to do is look at a higher timeframe and figure out where the trend is going. I like looking at the 1 day timeframe, I also take note of support and resistance zones. If the trend on the 1 day time frame is moving up, then I go to the 4 hour or maybe even the 1 hour timeframe and look for a dip to buy into. Even if the trend on the 1 hour goes down after I buy, I know the trend on the 1 day time frame is moving up. I can tell you right now though, you're better off holding and not selling since the crypto market is very bullish right now. There is no worse feeling than selling at the bottom while everyone is riding to the moon.