Litecoin (LTC) has seen an impressive surge, escalating by approximately 17% over just 12 hours, marking an intraday high of $118 in Asian markets on Thursday morning. Despite this upswing, LTC remains 72% below its record high of $410 from May 2021, even though it briefly reached $140 during last December's crypto rally.
The upward momentum has primarily been attributed to significant accumulations by large investors colloquially known as 'whales and sharks', which hold a minimum of 10,000 LTC. Since January 9, these entities have acquired an additional 250,000 coins, as pointed out by Santiment, a market analytics firm.
This substantial growth in Litecoin's market capitalization highlights its decoupling from other altcoins, gaining 16.1% in just 11 hours.
Santiment emphasizes the pivotal role of these large-scale investors in the recent rally, similar to patterns observed in early December. Alongside this, the crypto community's optimism over the potential approval of a spot Litecoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States has fueled further enthusiasm.
Canary Capital has recently submitted an amendment to its S-1 filing with the SEC, raising anticipations, especially with the forthcoming change in SEC leadership.
James Seyffart, a Bloomberg ETF analyst, remarked on the possible SEC engagement with the filing, although the critical 19b-4 filing, which would initiate a formal approval process, remains pending.
His colleague, Eric Balchunas, noted feedback from the SEC suggests a favorable outlook for Litecoin's ETF approval compared to others like Solana. ETF Store President Nate Geraci added that the approval of a Litecoin ETF before those tied to other major cryptocurrencies like XRP or SOL would be noteworthy.
Meanwhile, the overall crypto market experienced a 3% uplift, thanks largely to Bitcoin surpassing the $100,000 mark, reaching $100,700 in Thursday's early Asian trading. This significant milestone for Bitcoin coincides with other notable performers in the crypto sphere. XRP experienced a 13% uptick, topping $3 for the first time since January 2018, while other cryptocurrencies like Solana (SOL), Stellar Lumens (XLM), and Chainlink (LINK) also saw appreciable gains. Nonetheless, Litecoin maintained its position at the forefront of altcoin advancements.