Litecoin (LTC) has just gained more than 11% to reach a high of $69.36 earlier today—its highest value since September 2019.
After briefly reaching this peak, Litecoin cooled off slightly, falling back to around $67.77 where it currently sits. The cryptocurrency now has a market capitalization in excess of $4.38 million, further solidifying it as the seventh largest cryptocurrency by market cap. It is now gaining somewhat on Tether (USDT)—which currently occupies the position of the sixth largest cryptocurrency.
Litecoin was added to Binance futures earlier this month, which could have contributed to its strong performance over the last few weeks. Since Binance added it, the price of Litecoin has grown from $45 to where it now stands, up 150%.
Some speculate that the formation of a four-hour golden cross on the LTC/USD charts could be the reason behind today's price jump. In brief, a golden cross candlestick pattern forms when a short-term moving average crosses above a longer-term moving average, thus indicating that the average price of an asset is increasing at a faster rate.
This recent bullish price action has also seen Litecoin make significant gains against Bitcoin (BTC), with LTC/BTC climbing from 0.00637 BTC to 0.00733 BTC in the last day. Litecoin has now been gaining on Bitcoin for more than a month, and has improved by 32% against Bitcoin in this time. But it's still a long way off.