On Jan. 30 Litecoin (LTC) lit up the charts in both it’s USD and Bitcoin (BTC) pars by rallying more than 20% to secure a spot as the highest daily gainer amongst the top-10 cryptos ranked by market capitalization.
Crypto market daily price chart. Source: Coin360
Investors will recall that in 2019, Litecoin front-ran the Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin rally by pumping more than 350% from January to June. Thus, the altcoin’s most recent price action is sure to stir up some strong feelings amongst traders who may interpret the altcoin’s trend reversal as the beginnings of a wider crypto-market rally.
LTC USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
Litecoin price hits 4-month high
The LTC/USDT pair broke above the 200-DMA on the highest trading volume seen since April 2019 when the price moved from $59 to $99. In addition to breaking out of the descending channel, Litecoin also surged above a high volume node on the volume profile visible range at $55-$58 to set a weekly higher high at $69.89, a price not seen since September 2019.
Although the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) flipped bullish on Dec. 21, 2019, it has taken some time for Litecoin price action to heat up and the most recent bull cross on Jan. 29 preceded Thursday’s 20% rally.
LTC USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
Traders will also note that Litecoin has completed a massive cup and handle pattern and broke out strongly from the handle.
Typically, the cup and handle formation serves as a springboard for the continuation of the uptrend; and the projected target of the breakout is often predicted by measuring the distance from the right side peak of the cup and the bottom of the cup.
In this case, traders that swear by the cup and handle pattern would cite a $90 to $100 target, but we all know the crypto market is driven by an incredibly complex set of ever-changing factors.
Litecoin now joins the ranks of altcoins breaking above their multi-year descending trendlines and 200-day moving average resistance zones. As for the next steps, traders will need to turn $63 and the 200-DMA to support before the price can move higher.
LTC/BTC also turns bullish
LTC BTC daily chart. Source: TradingView
The price action on Litecoin’s Bitcoin pairing (LTC/BTC) also mirrors that of the LTC/USDT pair although the cup and handle pattern is much more shallow. The LTC/BTC pair broke above the 200-DMA and the high volume VPVR node and now approaches a long-term resistance at 0.007529 satoshis.
Similar to LTC/USDT, the MACD histogram has flipped positive and the MACD crossed sharply above the signal line. The relative strength index (RSI) is also pushing into the overbought region suggesting the price may need to pull back to support at 0.006736 (sats).
Traders playing the USDT pair and especially the BTC pair will need to keep a close eye on trading volume as today’s purchasing volume on both pairs set a nearly 7-month high.
If the price can push above 0.007529 (sats) and 0.008086 (sats) the altcoin would be en-route to set a higher high at 0.009088 (sats).
Litecoin weekly price chart. Source: Coin360
Currently, Litecoin’s dominance rate compared against all other cryptocurrencies is 1.5%. Bitcoin’s dominance rate now stands at 65.9% and the total cryptocurrency market cap is $258.4 billion.
Aside from Litecoin, a few other altcoins posted notable gains. ETH rallied 4.02% to finally break above resistance at $175 and is now trading at $182.56. EOS also rallied 4.75% and TRON (TRX) gained 3.02%.