You may have been in crypto long enough to recall the times when Litecoin was called “the Silver of crypto”. Well, it may be time to brush up on that comparison.
While the real value of physical Silver is undeniable, the market has long overlooked this precious metal. Considered well inferior to Gold, investors and traders have not paid much attention to it for roughly seven years.
All of a sudden, in 2020, the price jumped over 150% from bottom to high. In the crypto world, you can see a similar pattern looking at Litecoin priced in BTC terms. The coin has never recovered from the 2018 bear market and remained firmly stuck into a steep downtrend.
However, the market finally seems to have lighted up the spotlight on Litecoin, revamping the price action. As a note, while there are hundreds of cryptocurrencies out there that could fall under the category of “shitcoin”, Litecoin is one of the oldest native blockchains which has run efficiently and with no hack or problem since its inception.
On top of that, the coin is widely available on almost every crypto platform or exchange, so it has one of the broadest user-base exposures among all cryptocurrencies. Is this a call to rush into buying Litecoin? Not necessarily.
There are two main takeaways here. First, buying something that looks historically “cheap” may provide the best opportunities from a long-term perspective. Especially if what you are buying has proven to be solid and trustworthy over time.
Second, you can also see Litecoin as a proxy of the risk appetite of the market. When every coin already skyrocketed in price, in some cases, without being backed by much more than a viral meme, it makes sense to allocate more capital to coins with higher upside potentials. On the other hand, dinosaur-coins usually get traction in the latest stages of a bull market which can strengthen the case for planning an exit strategy or taking some profit.