Litecoin (LTC/USD), seemingly left for dead after an abysmal 17 months of trade and not much love from the crypto community, has gotten a second wind.
Litecoin unexpectedly spiked to as high as $1.99 on BTC-e earlier in the weekend, still retaining the bulk of its gains. The rise of 35%, taking place over a 12h period, represented litecoin's best stretch of trade since January, when it nearly fell below $1.00 and then proceeded to nearly triple in value. It is currently trading at $1.82.
The rally is particularly unique in that it did not need the assistance of Bitcoin , which rose by no more than 4% during the same period and has since failed to retain gains. Most other major coins have not experienced major moves. In the good old days of 2013, litecoin and other alts would typically ride the coattails of bitcoin in its volatile journey, typically magnifying their progenitor's movements.
Litecoin's outperformance means significant gains in the LTC/BTC rate, which hit a 14-week high of 0.008.
Fundamental causes for the rally, if they exist, are not yet known. The spike was accompanied by a surge in volume to near 290,000 LTC ($500,000) in the 24h period. Two other volume surges, slightly smaller, occurred earlier this month, but any resultant price movements were short-lived.
The rally comes two weeks after Litecoin's own descendant, dogecoin (DOGE), also experienced an unexpected resurrection after languishing near historical lows. It too gained 35%. DOGE has in fact since added to gains, rising to a 3-month high of 61 satoshi ($0.00015).
For litecoin, such bounces are not improbable after losing in excess of 95% of its value during the preceding 17 months. While its long-term fundamentals still face an uphill battle, short-term traders may see opportunity to jump back on the bandwagon.
