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With bitcoin still trading in the doldrums far below its all time highs, litecoin has been impacted more dramatically by the recent downturn in price. Once trading as high as the $50 range, litecoin now sits at the measly valuation of approximately $1.50. Obviously this is far far below the previous peak and has called the viability of the cryptocurrency into question.

So the question is, is the depression in litecoin price a buying opportunity or a fair valuation of the utility of the digital “commodity”. Let’s look at the bearish and the bullish views to help our readers decide for themselves:

Bearish

  • There is only room in the world for one cryptocurrency: bitcoin.
  • The litecoin price surge was the obvious result of a “tulip mania” unsubstantiated by fundamentals
  • Litecoin development has been lacking (Litecoin creator Charlie Lee said it didn’t need further development work)
  • Advantages of litecoin (faster transaction times, separate platform) are not attractive enough to make it an alternative to bitcoin
  • It’s too risky

Bullish

  • Next to bitcoin, litecoin trades the highest volume per day of any of the alt coins, by a longshot.
  • Litecoin has faster transaction times than bitcoin. Use litecoin to buy coffee and bitcoin to buy a car
  • Litecoin is hosted on a different platform and helps bitcoin users diversify their risk in case btc comes under attack. While it’s unlikely bitcoin could be “taken over” litecoin would be a safety raft in the event this happened
  • Price is extremely depressed offering a considerable discount to buyers. Tons of upside

In the opinion of this writer, if you are already speculating, yes speculating (not investing) in digital currencies, then you don’t have much to lose by throwing a bit of cash litecoin’s way. It’s really cheap right now and the sentiment in the digital currency space is poor. This is the perfect “buy when there’s blood in the streets” scenario…you just have to come to terms with there is blood in digital currency streets, not the historically rich equity, commodity, or bond markets. Most importantly, if you believe that bitcoin will go up then litecoin will naturally go with it and likely spike higher on a % basis as it’s done in the past. Hype begets hype in digital currencies just like the other markets. LTC can be seen as a leveraged bet on bitcoin so if you’re a fan of btc throw some chips on the table for ltc.