In the months leading up to Litecoin’s halving in August, the price of the blockchain’s native LTC token continued to rise. There was renewed interest from investors who rushed back into the token, eventually pushing the price above $100. That is, until the actual halving event begins and it turns into a “buy on the rumor, sell on the news” scenario. The token’s downward trend has continued since then, and the pain may not be over.
Litecoin trading volume plummets after halving
Litecoin trading volume has been lower than expected since the halving was completed. Investors expected demand for LTC tokens to increase as the supply rate decreased, but the opposite was true. Instead, the daily trading volume of cryptocurrency continued to decline.
On the last day, Liseoin daily trading volume decreased by a further 23%. This brought daily trading volume to $255 million, which is significantly lower than the $500 million daily trading volume the cryptocurrency experienced leading up to the halving.
LTC daily volumes drops 23% | Source: CoinMarketCap
LTC price also fell significantly, as did trading volume. From its pre-halving high of $112, the altcoin has fallen more than 50% to its current level of just over $60. This means that the asset lost all of its accumulated gains between June and July 2023, just one month after the halving was completed.
So, rather than being the bullish event that was initially expected, the halving has proven to be more bearish than most. This also occurred during a bear market, and it didn’t help that LTC fell quickly alongside larger assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
LTC price returns to pre-halving levels | Source: LTCUSD on Tradingview.com
Will the LTC decline continue to $50?
At current exchange rates, the forecast does not look very good compared to the LTC price. Not surprisingly, Litecoin is up 3% in the last day as Bitcoin recovers above $26,000. However, this does not seem sustainable by current metrics.
The first indicator of this is that decreasing daily trading volume means that interest in that asset is waning. If investors move to other assets that they believe offer better prospects, this could impact the price of LTC and trigger further declines from here. Add to this the fact that the price of the coin is below its 50-day and 100-day moving averages, which signals the path to disaster.
If LTC bulls fail to maintain support above $60 and fall once again like they did on September 11, $50 becomes a very likely landing point. This decline would return to November 2022 levels and signal a long-term bearish trend for digital assets.
As of this writing, LTC price is still hovering above $62, but the tug-of-war for control between bulls and bears continues to rage.