Litecoin (LTC) emerged as one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies on March 23, surpassing its top-ranking rivals Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
LTC price rallied 5.5% to reach an intraday high of around $92.50. In comparison, the total crypto market capitalization (TOTAL) has risen 2.25% to $1.14 trillion, with BTC and ETH rising 1.79% and 1.42%, respectively.
The Federal Reserve's 25 basis points (bps) rate hike on March 22 appears to be the key driver behind Litecoin beating its crypto rivals over the past 24 hours.
Notably, LTC price rallied over 15% versus BTC and about 14.5% versus ETH since the Fed announcement.
One reason could be that Litecoin has relatively underperformed the cryptocurrency market in March, dropping over 6.5% month-to-date (MTD) versus the crypto market's 9.35% gains.
Hence, traders likely saw this as a "buy the dip" opportunity for Litecoin with more upside potential, particularly as there were little to no other notable catalysts.
Meanwhile, on-chain data shows a rise in the Litecoin supply held by addresses with a balance between 1 million and 10 million LTC in March. Additionally, the share of supply held by addresses with a balance between 100,000 LTC and 1 million LTC has been dropping.
This suggests that the whales holding 10,000-1 million LTC have been accumulating Litecoin in March to enter the 1 million-10 million LTC holders' cohort.
A halving event occurs when the rewards for mining new blocks get cut in half.
Previous halvings in Bitcoin and Litecoin markets have preceded extended bull runs. Therefore, the next Litecoin halving, scheduled for August 2023, could also produce a similar bullish outcome.
Independent market analyst Rekt Capital noted that the euphoria around the Litecoin
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