This Bitcoin Fork Is Defying Declines In Top Two Cryptos With A 5% Rally Thanks To Strong ETF Hopes In 2025
Litecoin LTC/USD became one of the biggest cryptocurrency gainers Tuesday, outpacing coins with significantly higher market capitalization. What happened: The proof-of-work cryptocurrency lifted over 5% in the last 24 hours to a market capitalization of $9.23 billion. The coin's trading volume surged 90% to $1.89 billion. LTC's rally overshadowed heavyweights like Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD, which fell 2.54% and 4.63%, respectively, in the last 24 hours. The positive momentum was imparted following Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas' remarks that spot exchange-traded funds tied to LTC could get approval ahead of Solana SOL/USD and XRP XRP/USD. Balchunas noted that as Litecoin is a hard fork of Bitcoin, it may avoid regulatory scrutiny since it is generally viewed as a commodity. As of this writing, LTC has one S-1 filing, that was submitted by cryptocurrency-focused investment firm Canary Capital in October. See Also: If You Invested $1,000 In Bitcoin When The First Bitcoin ETF Was Filed, Here’s How Much You’d Have Today Why It Matters: After lagging behind much of the market in 2024, Litecoin got a fresh lease of life due to the broader rally spurred by Donald Trump's presidential victory last month. The coin has jumped 31% in the last month, exceeding the returns from Bitcoin and Ethereum. Social mentions of the coin have significantly risen, according to social intelligence platform LunarCrush, potentially indicating growing retail interest. 🔭Zooming out, we see that $LTC continues to gain momentum with social mentions accelerating dramatically this year, hitting the highest point ever on November 15ᵗʰ. pic.twitter.com/UNPzIPKgJW— LunarCrush Social Intelligence (@LunarCrush) December 18, 2024Additionally, the coin's Open Interest surged 17% in the last 24 hours, and over 48% over the previous month, implying a surge in bets on future price movements. Around 72% of traders on Binance were levered long on LTC as of this writing, according to the Long/Short Ratio. Price Action: At the time of writing, Litecoin was exchanging hands at $122.03, up 4.70% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Photo by DIAMOND VISUALS on Shutterstock Read Next: ‘Most Crypto-Foward’ RIA Slams Bitcoin Forecasts From Michael Saylor, Others: ‘Disvalues It To Me’ Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs© 2025 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.