Litecoin - Slow And Steady GrowthLitecoin gets a fair amount of hate, yet I still consider it to be an interesting part of my portfolio. Sure, it hasn't provided nearly the returns some other cryptocurrencies have. Nevertheless, it remains in a long term uptrend. Even if it crashed down to $80, it would still be in the long term growth channel. Despite my general strategy shifting to selling, I did add a little to my long term spot position recently at $146 and $156. Unfortunately, LTC failed to break above the $300 level, and has created a new downtrend (orange). On a positive note, the recent low formed right off another long term trendline. On Coinbase, buyer volume looks incredibly healthy, and it remains the crypto with the longest hold time (even longer than Bitcoin itself). The recent low retested a broken downtrend from earlier in the year. A break back below that downtrend would probably send LTC to the long term channel support on Coinbase at least briefly, which exists near $60.
Additionally, Litecoin has now spent roughly a YEAR between $100 and ATH, mostly ranging. During the previous bull market, Litecoin only managed to stay in that range for 7 months. Despite underperformance, Litecoin is finding acceptance at higher prices than previous years and looks relatively "stable". It remains one of the most liquid crypto assets out there, and it's near historic lows against Bitcoin. For better or for worse, I still own some.
On the downside, as mentioned above, LTC can break down towards $75-80. Much lower than that, and I'd probably consider the project "dead." In this event, Bitcoin likely wouldn't look particularly good in the long term either. So far, this just looks like a long period of consolidation. The longer LTC stays stable at these levels, the more explosive the upside can be if it manages to break the all-time high at $420 and leaves this big range behind. There's even a chance it makes it to the TOP of the long term channel, placing it at prices even current holders do not believe to be within reach.
I still think there's a reason to hold at least one of the legacy proof-of-work coins in a crypto portfolio. They are the most liquid and reliable - meaning they could be more likely to outlast significant broader market movements. Newer hyped projects could have far more downside, as well as projects that require significant investor funding. Litecoin is quite decentralized, the founder sold all his coins years ago, and it has never had any downtime. If I'm looking for a true hedge to inflation and economic uncertainty, I feel comfortable at least holding SOME Litecoin for the longer term.
This is not meant as financial advice - this is meant for speculation and entertainment only.
-Victor Cobra
