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- While Litecoin (LTC) has been described as an underperformer compared to new flashy layer one and layer two coins, the altcoin is on the cusp of breaking out of a macro-falling logarithmic trend.
- Litecoin price has continued to consolidate since 2018 to date despite having experienced two halvings that have reduced its annual inflation.
Litecoin (LTC) network, a veteran altcoin that has experienced three crypto bull markets, is facing a major task of competing with newer blockchains especially those focused on smart contracts and the web3 industry. The peer-to-peer crypto asset could eventually be compelled to evolve like Ethereum (ETH) from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus in a bid to ensure a sustainable future adoption.
Furthermore, some altcoins have a higher throughput than the Litecoin network and still enjoy a vibrant online community. Nevertheless, the Litecoin network has enjoyed notable support from institutional investors seeking to safely diversify their crypto portfolios.
Closer Look at Litecoin’s On-chain Metrics
Litecoin (LTC) has been one of the most traded altcoins in the industry since its inception in 2011. As a PoW-secured blockchain, the Litecoin network has attracted notable attention from the crypto mining industry. As of this report, Litecoin had a total hash rate of about 952.47 TH/s and a mining difficulty of around 32.67 million.
In comparison with the closest PoW-secured blockchain Dogecoin (DOGE), the Elon Musk-backed meme coin had a total hash rate of 1.01 PH/s and a mining difficulty of around 15.12 million as of this report. According to on-chain data provided by tokenview explorer, the non-zero Litecoin addresses amount to around 8.7 million and have facilitated over 225 million transactions.
LTC Price Action and Bull Market Expectations
Since the end of the 2021 crypto bull cycle, Litecoin’s price has been trapped in a falling trend and low volatility. The mid-cap altcoin with a fully diluted valuation of about $5.9 billion has experienced notable competition from emerging layer one (L1) blockchains that are focused on the mass adoption of web3 products and digital assets.
Litecoin’s price has gradually been moving away from the top-tier digital assets in the past few years, despite its deep liquidity. Interestingly, a popular crypto analyst Lark Davis recently referred to Litecoin as one of the many zombie coins that will continue to underperform in this bull cycle.
Nonetheless, the LTC price could easily follow Bitcoin’s footsteps and experience a parabolic rally towards its all-time high. According to market intelligence platform Santiment, LTC price is on the precipice of major uproar after its weekly Relative Strength Index (RSI) spiked to a two-month high.
⚡️📈 #Litecoin has had a mild emergence, rebounding back above $70 for the first time since January 22nd. For now, trading volume is rather dormant for the #19 ranked market cap asset. But monitor $LTC, as isolated pumps are often predecessors for $BTC. https://t.co/xViUwnLeOt pic.twitter.com/BO8u1moQNN
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) February 9, 2024
If Litecoin’s price manages to consistently close above the weekly falling logarithmic trend around $72 in the coming weeks, the altcoin will be ready to reclaim $100 in the subsequent weeks. Notably, the resistance level around $72 also coincides with the 0.236 Auto Fib Retracement.
It is prudent to keep a close watch on the weekly death cross between the 50 and the 200 Moving Averages (MA) as it could be a huge hindrance to the ultimate bullish recovery. Furthermore, Litecoin price is down more than 30 percent since the weekly death cross happened in late 2022 to trade at
