Litecoin Price: Holders Refuse to Sell as Hash Rate Hits All-Time High, What’s Next
Litecoin (LTC) was trading at $91.69 at press time after a 16.97% drop in the past 24 hours and a 24.28% price drop within the past seven days. Market capitalization of the crypto is $6.89 Billion, and the circulating supply is 75 Million LTC. With the price drop, there is high activity in the $1.95 billion 24 hour trading volume. LTC traded between $87.07 and $110.94 in the last 24 hours and its seven day range was $87.17 – $129.12. Litecoin’s price decline, like the broader cryptocurrency market, followed Bitcoin’s fall below $100,000 for the first time in two weeks. Litecoin Price: Long-Term Holders Maintain Confidence Data from IntoTheBlock reveals that 78% of Litecoin addresses have owned it for longer than a year. In the past, long term holders historically accumulated in a bearish market environment and sold around market tops. 78% of Litecoin addresses have held their $LTC for over a year, typically accumulating during bear markets and selling near peak prices. In this cycle, the slight decrease in long-term holdings is less marked than in past cycles, indicating that many holders are expecting… pic.twitter.com/nB7YuoYEKv— IntoTheBlock (@intotheblock) December 19, 2024- Advertisement -Long term holdings in this cycle have been relatively unchanged from previous cycles. However, this trend also suggests that many investors are keeping their Litecoin to ride out the current downturn — should Litecoin price recover well in the future. Litecoin Hash Rate Hits All-Time High On the 18th of December 2024, the hash rate of the Litecoin network hit a record 1.64k TH/s, according to IntoTheBlock. In the meantime, the hash rate has averaged 1.53k TH/s over the past 30 days, peaking to 1.77k TH/s on December 14 and going as low as 1.35k TH/s on November 21. Source: IntoTheBlock Increased hashrate is a consistent indicator of growing miner participation, as well as the use of more efficient mining gear. In the past, hash rate has always correlated well with price trends, with peaks in 2017, 2021, and now in 2024. Despite a high hash rate liquid Litecoin’s price has been somewhat sluggish, possibly indicative of more efficient mining operations and obdurate market sentiment. Grayscale Investments Increases Litecoin Accumulation Days after Litecoin price started to tumble, Grayscale Investments began buying up 2,230 LTC on Thursday. According to CoinGlass, this has pushed its 30 day accumulation over 41,100 LTC, and with a total Litecoin holdings, it now represents a value of $220 million overall. Source: Coinglass The company’s sustained accumulation of Litecoin has sparked speculation about a potential spot Litecoin ETF. Eric Balchunas of Bloomberg, suggests that an ETF application for Litecoin may receive regulatory approval due to its similarity to Bitcoin and the SEC’s view that Litecoin is not a security. If a Litecoin ETF comes to be then it may offer a new spark to raise the market and investor interest. Grayscale’s actions demonstrate its status as a leading crypto exchange traded fund, and underscores a continued belief in Litecoin in the face of market headwinds.