On Wednesday this week, the Litecoin Network—which was founded in 2011 as a fork of Bitcoin—underwent its third halving of mining rewards.
If you have no clue about what halvings in the crypto space are, here's a briefer on it. Halvings are how networks like Litecoin and Bitcoin slow down the rate at which the supply of their native coin increases.
Usually there is massive hype surrounding these halving events. In this article, we will go over a few important details you should be aware of about the LTC halving.
We will talk about the effects of the massive hype around LTC. Will LTC price explode massively in the coming days or with the hype post halving dying down LTC price will take a dip too?
We will go over whether you as a trader and investor should buy or sell to make the most of your hard-earned capital.
Let's not waste any more time, shall we?
Let's jump right in.
According to litecoinblockhalf.com, a website that tracks Litecoin's having data, the halving event happened sometime around 15:11 GMT (11:11 am ET).
After the countdown hit the mark, the LTC network's reward for mining blocks got cut by half, from 12.5 LTC per block to 6.25 LTC.
Litecoin's creator Charlie Lee in a Twitter livestream, clarified that Litecoin's halvings were put in place to help LTC achieve widespread adoption, without compromising network security.
Similar to Bitcoin, LTC relies on "miners" who invest computer resources to process transactions and safeguard the network. This type of security mechanism is known as "proof-of-work."
In the process, miners receive benefits in the form of a fixed "subsidy" that is cut in half about every four years, along with a range of transaction fees.
Enough of the technical stuff. Let's figure out what the hype has been with LTC, and how it has reacted so far.
How has Litecoin's price reacted to the halving?
Not very well.
Despite the excitement and higher daily trading volume that LTC has enjoyed so far—which, according to Coingecko, has remained close to $1.1 billion—the price of LTC, however, has been quite sluggish as of late.
At the moment, LTC is trading at $90.61, down 18% over the previous 30 days.
According to a recent tweet from Santiment, LTC may even be going through a "buy the rumour, sell the news" scenario.
Santiment goes further to say that the social dominance on LTC has also jumped, as many social metrics showed panic signs right before the halving.
Weirdly, most analyst opinions aren't so positive on LTC and its halving.
For example, The Wolf Of Few Streets's Twitter account in a recent tweet, mentioned that LTC historically drops right after halvings. The Wolf Of Few Streets argues in the tweet, that this happens due to closing positions and the end of the hype.
However, right after this drop, a price explosion usually follows.
The analyst goes further to say that the $75 zone may be a good place to start thinking of entering the market.
Another analyst, Crypto Tony, in a tweet, had something similar to say about LTC.
According to the analyst, the lack of market liquidity on Litecoin has produced a "stalemate", leaving no bullish momentum to carry the cryptocurrency up.
The analyst went further to say that for LTC to rise, it first needs to build a base.
This leads to the next section of our LTC analysis piece:
Not much, really.
CoinMarketCap shows that LTC has only moved to the upside by less than 0.2% over the last 24 hours.
Litecoin isn't so impressive either, on the weekly timeframe. CoinMarketCap shows that it has only moved by 1.7% over this period.
In the charts, LTC apparently has some on-and-off romance with the $94.5 zone.
The cryptocurrency has broken through it on several occasions but has failed to stay above for long.
LTC in the charts | source: TradingView
Upon failing to stay above the $94.82 zone, LTC always returns to an ascending trendline.
This ascending trendline shows that LTC's bulls are actively buying the dips, and may be targetting another breakout
Together with the $94.8 zone, this ascending trendline forms an ascending triangle and one of two possibilities.
The answer to that isn't quite simple.
The ascending triangle formation appears to be heavily squeezed at the moment, as LTC gravitates between $94.8 and $84.17.
One thing, however, is sure:
The ascending triangle is about to break. The best thing to do would be to wait for a breakout to the top or bottom.
If a breakout to the bottom occurs, The Wolf Of Few Streets' predictions may come into play.
LTC may drop massively to the $75 zone, before beginning its post-halving price rally.
However, if LTC breaks through this formation to the upside, a good place to stop may be its March 2022 high of $132.
The RSI on the daily chart sits at the neutral zone, leaving room for both possibilities.
Should you buy LTC right now?
The answer would be to watch and wait.
Disclaimer: Voice of Crypto aims to deliver accurate and up-to-date information, but it will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile financial assets, so research and make your own financial decisions.