Bitcoin has been spiking heavily as of late, but it’s certainly not alone. The currency is being joined by major competitors such as Litecoin and the stable coin Tether, which did not necessarily increase in price, but is enjoying considerably higher trading volumes.
Litcoin’s Bullish Behavior Explained
According to a new report, Litecoin has jumped by approximately 200 percent since 2019 began. This means that in just four months, the currency has managed to turn itself around. While it’s not exactly where it was in late 2017 or early 2018, the currency does appear to be on a positive roll.
Jon Pearlstone – publisher of the digital currency newsletter Crypto Patterns – comments:
Litecoin experienced a 95 percent drop in price from its high around $450 in 2017. Since the market recently bottomed, Litecoin has been a market leader among altcoins, moving up more than 200 percent. Since the large altcoin market has continued to move in the same direction during the last 12-18 months, the stronger than average move up for Litecoin has been more of a ‘catch up’ with bitcoin (which fell around 75 percent) and other large altcoins that did not drop as far from their all-time highs.
He continued to say:
Moving forward, indicators to watch to see if Litecoin can sustain better than average performance will be 1) how price reacts to a test of the $100 level, and 2) the need for stronger volume on moves higher as confirmation of real bullish sentiment. The entire move up from the lows has been on modest relative volume.
Among the various reasons given regarding Litecoin’s sudden boom include more merchants accepting Litecoin as a means of payment. The Litecoin Foundation has also developed many partnerships over the past five months that have increased further awareness and education surrounding Litecoin’s properties.
Presently, Litecoin is trading for just over $88. It is currently not facing any serious resistance points, though this could change should the currency reach $95 in the coming weeks.
The bullish activity of Litecoin, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are now rubbing off on stable coins like Tether, which recently enjoyed a total $89 billion trading volume. Compare this with the $28 billion that bitcoin enjoyed during its December 2017 heyday. As of April 3, Tether is allegedly the number one cryptocurrency by trading volume, and it beats out bitcoin by nearly half-a-billion dollars.
Not All Bullish Trends Are Real
Unfortunately, these words should come with not just a grain, but rather a pillar of salt considering Tether’s previous accusations of potentially phony volume reports.
In the past, Tether claims to have provided proof of its reserve ratios between Tether coins and US dollars, though no auditing firm has ever signed off on this proof. Many questions remain regarding the legitimacy of Tether and its previous statements.