Litecoin (LTC) has been soaring today, gaining as much as 9% in the last 12 hours to now trade near $18.50. The price and magnitude of gain are the highest in 2 weeks, and the last time LTC traded at this level for any sustainable period of time was near the beginning of February, a period seeing its rapid decline amid panic in the crypto world stemming from the upheaval at MtGox.
Against Bitcoin , it has broken the 30 mBTC mark for the first time since early this year. It is now trading at 30.7 mBTC. The sharp rise is composed of both Bitcoin's decline, which saw it break $600 today, as well all the rise in Litecoin's "intrinsic" value.
The sharp rise comes in preparation of tomorrow's much anticipated launch of Litecoin on Huobi, reportedly the world's largest Bitcoin exchange by volume. Like an IPO of a hot tech stock, traders are anticipating a huge pop in the first day of trade and are piling in to get a share of the prize.
Even before their revelation several days ago, rumors had been swirling around forums and chat rooms for weeks about LTC's imminent addition to Huobi and looming rise in the markets.
Forex Magnates spoke to Huobi CEO Leon Li last month on the prospect of adding more coins. He said:
"We'll evaluate the virtual currencies’ general market value and its circulation to decide whether to include them. Litecoin is in our plan. We need more observation of the situation of Dogecoin."
In terms of technical indications for Litecoin's performance and potential outlook, that there are psychological factors in play as well.
