Altcoins
Litecoin Price Nosedives into Uncertain Territory Amid Halving Aftermath
Litecoin price has been in a steep decline for the past month, crashing by more than 20% over the period. Litecoin, the silver to Bitcoin’s gold, has dropped by more than 8% over the past week but remains up by 18.75% in the year to date. The asset’s total market cap has plunged by nearly 4% over the past 24 hours to $6 billion, ranking it 12th in the cryptocurrency market. The total volume of LTC traded over the same period has also dipped by 27%.
LTC Post-Halving
Litecoin price has been in a freefall for the past few days in the wake of the highly anticipated halving event. Litecoin, one of the oldest blockchain protocols in the world, completed its third halving event in history on August 2, 2023. The block-halving event occurs every four years on the Litecoin blockchain, where the LTC block reward is split in half, lowering the rate at which LTC tokens are generated.
Initially, Litecoin had a block reward of 50 LTC, which over the past few years has been split periodically. In the recent halving event, the Litecoin block rewards were split from 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC. The goal behind the halving event is to limit the total supply of LTC in circulation, increasing the value of Litecoin as the demand for the asset rises.
Halving events are usually seen as catalysts that could buoy price increases for the tokens of the networks in the long term. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is expected to have a halving event net year in April. According to BitPay CEO Stephen Pair, the adoption of Litecoin as a payment method on the global payments platform has skyrocketed over the past few months.
As of June 2023, LTC outperformed Bitcoin as the crypto of choice for payments on BitPay, accounting for 35% of transactions. Currently, Litecoin, the digital silver, accounts for 34.5% of the net transaction on BitPay. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is responsible for 36.47% of the transactions. As such, an increase in Litecoin usage in retail products might see LTC surpass Bitcoin to become the dominant BitPay cryptocurrency.
Litecoin Price Technical Analysis
Litecoin price has been on a bearish trajectory for the past few weeks, dropping below the psychological support level of $85.30. Over the past month, the LTC price has formed a descending channel shown in yellow. The asset remains below the 50-day and 200-day exponential moving averages (EMAs) as seen on the daily chart. Its Relative Strength Index (RSI) has slipped to 36, which is slightly above the oversold region.
Therefore, the Litecoin price is likely to continue falling in the immediate term before an upward price correction. A move above the 200-day EMA at $87.45 might push the price higher to the bullish support at $90.40. However, a move below the critical support of $80.10 will invalidate this view.
LTC Price Chart