By Our personal opinion is that Litecoin price will hit about 0.1 BTC in 2018, and 0.25 BTC sometime in the future. Considering it is currently trading at 0.012 BTC, that means it has a huge potential growth ahead. So, with a $10,000 USD BTC, we think we will see a $1000 Litecoin in the midterm and a $2500 Litecoin sometime in the longer term. The reason we think so is in the working dynamics and current usability of Litecoin.
What Makes Litecoin So Special
Litecoin, unlike other cryptocurrencies, was not created to be a competitor of Bitcoin. It was created to be a lighter, cheaper, younger brother of Bitcoin. The idea was that, due to Bitcoin’s scaling issues and incredible growth, Bitcoin would be a poor transactional currency and operate more as a capital or wealth holder. Litecoin, on the other hand, would fill the role of being a daily use or transactional currency that helped to ease the burden on the Bitcoin network. For the large part, this has worked pretty well. Bitcoin, today, is cryptocurrency’s digital gold, and Litecoin is used to move capital around between exchanges or for smaller, more fractional transactions.
Additionally, while Litecoin is currently valued at only 1/80th the value of a Bitcoin, it is only 1/4th the size and 4x faster. It can also do atomic swaps directly with its bigger sibling making it the perfect sidekick to Bitcoin. An atomic swap means you can exchange Bitcoin for Litecoin and vice versa directly on the blockchain and wouldn’t need an exchange to facilitate the transfer. So, with that in mind, Litecoin could potentially be used as a counterpart to Bitcoin and, in a lot of ways, already is.
Bitcoin is currently worth $6,500 USD. We think that Litecoin will eventually close the gap and 2018 will likely see the first steps in that move. We have already seen the beginnings of that trend back in January and February of 2018, where Litecoin went from 0.015 BTC to 0.02 BTC, a gain of around 25%. Though those gains were pushed back by the overall bear trend in the sector, once we do move back towards a growth phase, Litecoin will likely surge to make up for lost time.
Litecoin is Positioned to Do Really Well
Getting back to the question, for all these reasons we do believe that Litecoin is poised to skyrocket, providing that Bitcoin maintains or grows in the coming year. Additionally, in the effect of a major crash or correction, we think Litecoin will likely lose less of its total value and maybe a great hedge against that potential outcome. That’s simply because Litecoin is already very low in terms of BTC value and USD value. Here at CoinBeat, we can’t really see it dropping much further than it already has and the current $80 price tag is extremely reasonable, considering the nearly 500% gains potential if it gets back to its all-time high.
That being said, Litecoin does depend on Bitcoin to a certain degree and more so than other standalone currencies like Monero or Ethereum. Knowing that we think it’s important to invest wisely and choose a very broad approach to investing in the sector as no one knows for sure which coins will eventually be the most dominant in the crypto-market. For now, it is Bitcoin. However, others are catching up and have addressed many of the fundamental shortcomings of speed and scalability that Bitcoin is still working on.
Making a Good Profit When the Prices Surge
We would recommend an index-based strategy and trading for more Bitcoin as your base pair. That means you would hold a plethora of coins, and as they surge would move profits above a certain percentage into Bitcoin or Litecoin (your choice). This would fundamentally increase your overall BTC holding and when the entire market picks up, you would be a pretty happy camper.
Trading, however, is very risky if you do not have a complete understanding of financial markets and the technologies that make up this particular market. For those that don’t have the time or knowledge/expertise to set up an index strategy or actively trade, we suggest holding more of the “blue chip” and actively seeking out the information to make informed trading decisions. CoinBeat’s daily and weekly market recaps are great ways to ensure you get access to that type of information.
A great option, if you’re like me and think Litecoin is ripe to skyrocket, is to put a little more percentage of your portfolio towards it, and as Litecoin grows, that profit will then be distributable to other picks in your portfolio when or if the surge happens.
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