LTC to $100 before BTC Halving?

Litecoin price crossed $94 on March 3rd, the highest since the widespread sell-off after the August 2023 halving, which led to LTC underperforming the market in the past 6 months.

With a widespread post-halving selloff, Litecoin price dropped 37% within two weeks of the critical network event. Since then, Litecoin price has struggled for upward momentum. Bullish movements observed among LTC whale investors this week suggest that this is about to change.

Post-halving selloff has led to Litecoin price scramble for momentum

Litecoin’s most recent halving event took effect on August 2, 2023, reducing the block reward from 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC.

In the weeks that followed, LTC experienced a massive sell-off from miners and institutional investors, pushing prices from $95 on the halving date to a multi-year low of $58 by August 17.

The rally of the crypto sector started in mid-October, but the post-halving shortage of demand has left LTC prices lagging the market, as Litecoin price has been within the $70 range for most of the past 6 months – $80 range remained.

However, recent market data suggests that Bitcon halving may have an inverse impact on LTC price action.

Litecoin whale holdings near 34.4M all-time high before Bitcoin halving

With the Bitcoin (BTC) halving estimated to take effect on April 19th now less than 2 months away, competing Proof of Work (PoW) networks including Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Kaspa (KAS) have all seen significant growth recorded.

This comes amid widespread speculation that miners and key stakeholders who find BTC less profitable may be incentivized to channel their resources to other PoW networks.

Chain movements observed this week among LTC institutional investors suggest that this bullish outlook may already be in play for LTC price.

The Santiment chart below represents historical trends of balances in whale wallets with a minimum of 100,000 LTC (~$8.5 million). As seen below, the LTC whales went on a selling spree after the halving, depleting their balances by over 1.2 million LTC over the next 5 months.

However, the pendulum has swung in recent weeks as the whales started buying again around January 27th.

Litecoin surged 28% in a frenetic 48-hour rally between February 29 and March 2. LTC price eventually reclaimed $95 for the first time since the halving, before a sharp pullback saw LTC find support at $85 at press time on March 6.

Whale investors returning to the Litecoin network are the main catalysts behind the current LTC price revival.

The chart above illustrates how the whales acquired 1.7 million LTC between January 27 and March 5, bringing their balances to 34.4 million LTC, just 40,000 shy of their all-time high holdings.

Movements in the chain of this group of whales have proven a major influence on LTC price movements. In particular, the chart shows that after the August 2nd halving event, the whales unloaded a whopping 1.5 million LTC over a 5-month period, conceding that LTC price had fallen to a multi-year low, underperforming amid the market boom.

However, as things stand, the whales have now increased their holdings to historic levels, indicating an overwhelmingly bullish belief that the Bitcoin will positively impact LTC prices.

LTC Price Prediction: Can It Reach $100 Again?

Valued at current prices of around $85 per coin, the whales have now invested more than $228 million in Litecoin since the buying trend started around January 27th. And if the historical patterns are anything to go by, LTC could be on the verge of another. major price breakout above $100 as BTC halving approaches.

But in terms of short-term price action, the upper Bollinger band technical indicator currently highlights the $93 area as the key resistance level. If the bulls can establish a steady support level above that critical price point, a major breakout above $100 could be on the cards as predicted.

On the other hand, the bulls can rely on the 20-day SMA at $76.3 for initial support, in case of dramatic bearish reversal.