Litecoin (LTC/USD) finally awakened to the Bitcoin rally, spiking unexpectedly to as high as $4.54 on BTC-e, its highest level in over 3 months.
Litecoin had been trading relatively flat after eking out a modest gain late last week, but suddenly surged by 20% in 6 hours. It was the second sudden surge during the current bitcoin hot streak, during which litecoin's advance was seemingly suppressed.
However, litecoin's historical following and amplification of bitcoin movements has been most pronounced during wild frenzies; day-to-day movements have been increasingly conducted on its own terms, as observed in the earlier stages of the bitcoin rally when bitcoin's gains were more modest.
The altcoin has traded relatively flat near $3.00 since falling off its early-July spike to $8.65, even as bitcoin proceeded to double over the past several weeks.
Fundamentally, litecoin has attracted but a fraction of the following of Bitcoin, and many have written it off as a noble experiment destined to go nowhere. However, some of its beneficial attributes were noted during the recent Bitcoin XT spat, and the coin has been quite resilient this year after nearly falling below $1.00.
With today's rise, litecoin has reclaimed 2nd spot in market cap from Ripple 's XRP currency, which held the spot for roughly one year. Ripple has struggled in 2015 after an explosive final quarter last year, whereas litecoin has doubled year-to-date.
The LTC/BTC rate hit a high of 0.0012.
