Litecoin outperforms so far in May

Litecoin is boasting a month-to-date advance of 2.5% at the time of writing, faring better than the likes of Bitcoin, Ether, and other larger cryptos, which have dropped so far in May.

Litecoin is the 13^th largest crypto by market capitalisation, according to data from CoinGecko.

From a technical perspective, it’s rather telling that Litecoin’s prices have managed to climb above its 50-day simple moving average (SMA).

Litecoin’s prices now appear to be consolidating above that widely-followed technical indicator, perhaps biding its time before its next big move, either up or down.

 

What’s driving Litecoin’s climb?

 

1. Litecoin gained from Bitcoin’s congestion woes

Litecoin has benefited when Bitcoin’s network was clogged up by the recent meme-token mania.

Being the more “transaction-friendly” version of Bitcoin, users flocked to Litecoin as the fees on Bitcoin spiked ten-fold last week, reaching as high as US$30.

After all, this appears to be the very purpose of Litecoin’s spawning some 12 years ago, with the aim of becoming a channel for daily transactions.

Litecoin’s role as a peer-to-peer payment system also operates transactions notably faster, performing one per 2.5 minutes compared to the 10 minutes required per transaction on Bitcoin’s network.

Such features (cheaper and faster) appear to have worked in Litecoin’s favour of late, amidst Bitcoin’s woes, thus likely elevating the former’s prices higher.

 

2. Litecoin’s halving set for late July/early August

A “halving” is when the rewards for securing and recording transactions on Litecoin’s blockchain are lowered by 50%.

This event, Litecoin’s third, is drawing closer, apparently drawing in more suitors ahead of such a keenly-awaited event, which we also highlighted in our first crypto article of the year.

 

Though to be clear, Litecoin’s gains so far this year stand at just over 31% at the time of writing, much lower than Ether’s 54.8% and Bitcoin’s 65.3% year-to-date advance.

Still, if this crypto can continue persevering amid the broader woes, that may entice bulls to help Litecoin resurface back above the $100 line once more.