Litecoin Price
Litecoin is among the oldest surviving alternatives to Bitcoin, and it began as a near-copy: the same open codebase with a handful of parameters changed. The pitch was modest then and remains modest now — a chain for everyday payments sitting alongside Bitcoi…
Market data via Binance · signals computed live from daily closes · not financial advice.
Key market insights
A plain-language read of live indicators computed from daily closes — these describe current price behaviour, not a forecast.
Technical analysis
Moving averages, momentum and support/resistance from daily closing prices — a snapshot of current structure, not a forecast.
Historical performance
52-week high and low with trailing returns across time windows. Computed from up to 365 daily closes.
Automated observations
Generated mechanically from current market data (volatility, trend, distance from highs) — descriptive, not advice.
Strengths · tailwinds
- MACD is above its signal line — near-term momentum is upward.
Risks · headwinds
- Trading 66% below its 52-week high — well off recent peaks.
- Max drawdown of -69% over the window — has endured deep peak-to-trough losses.
Supply structure
How much LTC is in circulation versus its fixed maximum — 89.9% of the maximum is circulating today.
Litecoin derivatives
Live perpetual-swap metrics. Funding is the periodic payment between longs and shorts; open interest is the total value of outstanding contracts. Informational — not a recommendation to trade leveraged products.
Source: Binance Futures · funding shown per 8h and annualised. Leveraged products carry high risk; informational only.
Convert Litecoin to US Dollar
Two-way LTC ↔ USD at the live Binance price. Type an amount in either field, or tap a preset.
About Litecoin
Litecoin is among the oldest surviving alternatives to Bitcoin, and it began as a near-copy: the same open codebase with a handful of parameters changed. The pitch was modest then and remains modest now — a chain for everyday payments sitting alongside <a href="/coins/bitcoin/">Bitcoin</a> rather than trying to unseat it. The old shorthand calls it silver to Bitcoin’s gold, and that framing has stuck.
Under the bonnet it is still <a href="/glossary/proof-of-work/">proof of work</a>, but with Scrypt as the hashing algorithm rather than Bitcoin’s SHA-256, a shorter target gap between blocks and a larger maximum supply. Block rewards fall on a <a href="/glossary/halving/">halving</a> schedule that mirrors Bitcoin’s. Scrypt mining is shared with Dogecoin through merged mining, so both chains draw security from the same pool of hardware.
Its real uses are unglamorous and fairly durable: low-cost transfers, shifting value between exchanges when fees elsewhere climb, merchant payments through processors that support it, and acting as a proving ground for upgrades later adopted more widely. Litecoin took on Segregated Witness and Lightning early, and later added optional confidential transfers through an extension-block upgrade. Being boring has been a genuine feature here: the rules have barely changed, and the network has simply kept producing blocks year after year without drama.
The open question is whether being a steady, conservative payments chain is enough. Development is quieter than on larger networks, there is little Litecoin does that Bitcoin plus a payment layer built on top of it cannot, and shared mining ties part of its security budget to demand for another coin’s hashpower. The optional privacy feature has also created compliance friction at some regulated venues. Storage discipline matters as much here as anywhere — our <a href="/toolkit/how-to-set-up-a-hardware-wallet/">hardware wallet walkthrough</a> applies directly.
Litecoin vs peers
| Coin | Price | 24h | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Litecoin LTC | $46.58 | +0.76% | $3.52B |
| BNB BNB | $569.67 | +0.91% | $79.75B |
| XRP XRP | $1.10 | +0.85% | $63.82B |
| Solana SOL | $74.41 | +0.76% | $35.34B |
| TRON TRX | $0.3315 | +0.30% | $28.71B |
| Monero XMR | $362.66 | -0.12% | $6.69B |
Litecoin FAQ
How is Litecoin different from Bitcoin?
The differences are parameter-level rather than philosophical. Litecoin targets a shorter gap between blocks, so confirmations arrive sooner; it uses the Scrypt hashing algorithm instead of SHA-256; and it has a larger maximum supply. Otherwise the security model, the fixed issuance schedule and the general design are inherited from Bitcoin. Litecoin has historically adopted certain upgrades earlier, acting as a lower-stakes proving ground.
Can I still mine Litecoin at home?
Not meaningfully with a normal computer. Scrypt was originally chosen to resist specialised hardware, but purpose-built Scrypt miners arrived years ago and dominate the network, so general-purpose CPUs and graphics cards are not competitive. Home mining today means buying dedicated hardware and accounting for electricity, noise and heat. Our mining versus staking lesson covers how that maths actually works.
What is the optional privacy feature?
Litecoin added an extension-block upgrade that lets users move coins into a confidential area where amounts and addresses are hidden, then back out again. It is opt-in, so ordinary Litecoin transactions remain fully visible on the public ledger. Because the feature exists at all, some regulated exchanges in certain jurisdictions have restricted or removed support, which is worth checking before you rely on a particular venue.
What happens at a Litecoin halving?
The reward paid to miners for each new block is cut in half, following a schedule written into the protocol. It slows the rate at which new coins enter circulation. It also squeezes miner revenue, so less efficient operations tend to switch off unless fees or price compensate. A halving is a supply event, not a promise about price, and it is known about long in advance.
Is Litecoin safe to hold long term?
The chain itself has run for a long time without a successful protocol-level failure, which counts for something. The real risks are elsewhere: ordinary price volatility, thinner developer activity than on larger networks, security partly shared with a merge-mined coin, and the everyday danger of losing access to your own keys. Self-custody with a backed-up recovery phrase removes the exchange-failure risk but adds personal responsibility.
Why do exchanges and traders use Litecoin for transfers?
Because it is cheap, quick to confirm and listed almost everywhere. When fees on other networks spike, moving value between venues in Litecoin can cost noticeably less. That utility is real but unromantic, and it depends on continued exchange support rather than on anything the protocol itself guarantees.
Last updated Jul 25, 2026