Litecoin surged 81% overnight, and traders said they didn't understand it at all

Latiao (Litecoin), known as a master of sideways trading, ushered in a wave of violent pull-up yesterday, with a single-day increase of 81%, ending the previous sluggish state.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, Litecoin rose from $4.18 to $7.57 yesterday, an increase of about 81%. According to the data, most transactions occurred on three exchanges: Poloniex, OKCoin, and Huobi.

As of press time, the average price of Litecoin on various external exchanges is around US$7.57, while the price on domestic exchanges is relatively low at around US$6 as they have not yet opened up withdrawals.

Litecoin has seen little price movement since the beginning of February, spending most of its time trading sideways around the $4 line.

However, Litecoin’s most glorious period is not now. As early as the second half of 2013, Litecoin once reached US$48 (RMB 380).

As for what is driving the surge in Litecoin prices, market observers are not so sure.

One theory is that Litecoin is trying to integrate SegWit, although data shows that miners are not very supportive of this proposal.

At least one trader expressed surprise at Litecoin’s surge. Charles Hayter, co-founder and CEO of CryptoCompare, told CoinDesk he had no idea what was causing the price surge.

Tim Enneking, chairman of Crypto Asset Management, offered a similar sentiment:

“This move was totally unexpected for us.”

Another possible reason: traders are simply flocking to the altcoin market in an attempt to chase possible profits.

“The altcoin market has seen a lot of price swings across a variety of altcoins recently, with traders itching to jump on the bandwagon, thus exacerbating volatility in these altcoins,” Hayter said.