The Litecoin price has achieved $300, as it surpassed IOTA with a $15 billion market cap, to become the fourth largest cryptocurrency in the world behind Bitcoin Cash.
Ari Paul, a prominent bitcoin analyst and the co-founder of Blocktower Capital, noted that the market cap of Litecoin has surpassed the entire cryptocurrency market valuation 15 months ago.
“Litecoin is now worth more than the entire cryptocurrency market just 15 months ago,” said Paul.
$10 Billion Market Cap Milestone
Earlier today, Litecoin creator and former Coinbase executive Charlie Lee revealed that the market cap of Litecoin surpassed the $10 billion mark, and has recorded a 4,000 percent increase in value year-to-date.
Since then, within less than 24 hours since the market valuation of Litecoin surpassed $10 billion, it achieved $15 billion, peaking to $230.
While a single major event did not trigger the price of Litecoin to increase by nearly 80 percent within a 24-hour span, many analysts believe that the recent surge in the price of Litecoin was caused by an overall increase in interest and demand for the cryptocurrency market from the traditional finance sector.
Given that Litecoin is a cheaper and a more currency-like alternative to bitcoin due to its lower fees and faster confirmation times, it is likely that the strong performance of bitcoin over the past three months has impacted the short to mid-term price trend of Litecoin positively.
Still, despite today’s strong rally, Lee emphasized that investors should approach Litecoin and any other cryptocurrency in the market with caution, as any currency could experience a major correction in value.
“Sorry to spoil the party, but I need to reign in the excitement a bit… Buying LTC is extremely risky. I expect us to have a multi-year bear market like the one we just had where LTC dropped 90% in value ($48 to $4). So if you can’t handle LTC dropping to $20, don’t buy,” said Lee.
He added that every bull run in the cryptocurrency market has been followed by a bear cycle, and hence, the latest 76 percent surge in the price of Litecoin could lead to a major correction in the short-term.
Lee said:
“Every crypto bull run I’ve seen has been followed by a bear cycle. The market needs time to consolidate. That’s just my experience from 7 years of watching this space. How low and how long it will be is TBD. People need to be aware of this possibility and invest responsibly.”
Litecoin Trading Not Centralized in South Korea
Considering all of the variables and recent events, it is optimistic that the trading of Litecoin is not heavily centralized in Litecoin, as Bitcoin Cash was in November. GDAX, the flagship trading platform of Coinbase, processed more than $1 billion in Litecoin trades over the past 24 hours. That is, almost half of the daily trading volume of GDAX at $2.25 billion being allocated to Litecoin.
Due to the zero-fee system of major cryptocurrency exchanges in the industry, the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange market has had a negative reputation, as zero-fee trading leaves exchanges vulnerable against bot and wash trading.