Pre-Halving Rally? Litecoin Surges 43% to 6-Month High

Litecoin's third mining reward halving due in eight months, will cut LTC's pace of supply expansion by 50%.

AccessTimeIconNov 23, 2022 at 7:30 a.m. UTC
Updated Nov 23, 2022 at 8:47 p.m. UTC

Litecoin (LTC) is shining brightly amid the FTX-induced chaos in the crypto market. The cryptocurrency's outperformance perhaps stems from an impending positive change in its supply dynamics.

CoinDesk data shows LTC has rallied over 43% from $55 to $79 this month, with prices rising 28% in the past 24 hours alone. Market leaders bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) have dropped 19% and 26% this month.

LTC's bullish turn comes eight months ahead of Litecoin's third mining reward halving – a programmed code that will reduce rewards or LTC paid to miners for recording transactions on Litecoin's blockchain from 12.5 LTC per block to 6.25 LTC per block.

To crypto natives, LTC's latest rally may be reminiscent of the bearish-to-bullish trend change seen in the months leading up to the previous halvings, dated Aug. 26, 2015, and Aug. 5, 2019.

CoinDesk - Unknown
Historically, litecoin has seen a bearish-to-bullish trend change in months leading up to the mining reward halving. (TradingView, CoinDesk) (TradingView, CoinDesk)

LTC bottomed out, broke out of prolonged downtrends and led bitcoin higher in the run-up to the 2015 and 2019 halvings. Traders in crypto and traditional markets typically tend to be forward-looking and price in bullish/bearish events in advance.

And they might be at it again.

CoinDesk - Unknown
LTC is again showing signs of life in months ahead of the third halving. (TradingView, CoinDesk) (TradingView, CoinDesk)

While LTC has rallied to its highest since May, it's yet to cross above the trendline characterizing the bear market that began in April 2021.

DISCLOSURE

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.

CoinDesk - Unknown

Omkar Godbole is a Co-Managing Editor on CoinDesk's Markets team.


Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk’s longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.