What is Litecoin (LTC) and How to Trade Litecoin?

If Bitcoin (BTC) is considered “Digital Gold”, Litecoin (LTC) is “Silver” in the world of cryptocurrencies. In particular, in 2017, this coin entered the top 5 cryptocurrencies with the highest market capitalization when it increased its value by more than 5000% in just 12 months. This is also the reason why many people pay special attention to Litecoin.

So what exactly is Litecoin? Is LTC really a potential coin for you to invest in? How to buy and sell Litecoin? Let's find out with CPT Markets in the article below.

What is Litecoin (LTC)?

A few years after Bitcoin was created, Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer, launched Litecoin (LTC), a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency built on Bitcoin's own open source code. Similar to Bitcoin, Litecoin allows users to send and receive money without going through any central authority.

Litecoin made its mark by becoming the first cryptocurrency in the world to apply the SegWit (Segregated Witness) protocol. This protocol increases the processing capacity of each block from 1MB to 4MB, thereby improving transaction processing speed 4 times compared to Bitcoin.

Litecoin’s total supply is set at 84 million LTC, four times that of Bitcoin. This once led investors to expect LTC’s price to reach about a quarter of the value of “digital gold” Bitcoin. However, so far, Litecoin’s actual value is still far from initial expectations.

Advantages of Litecoin (LTC) compared to Bitcoin (BTC)

Litecoin is increasingly appreciated thanks to a series of outstanding advantages compared to Bitcoin, especially in its role as a fast, safe and effective means of payment:

• Superior transaction processing speed: While Bitcoin takes about 10 minutes to validate a transaction, Litecoin only takes 2.5 minutes. Thanks to its 4 times faster transaction speed, Litecoin becomes an ideal choice for daily transactions, while Bitcoin is gradually shifting towards becoming a long-term store of value.
• More secure and user-friendly mining algorithm:Litecoin uses the Scrypt algorithm, different from Bitcoin's SHA-256. This helps limit dependence on specialized mining machines (ASIC), creating a fairer mining environment and limiting the concentration of power in the hands of a few large miners.
• Enhanced privacy: With the implementation of solutions such as Soft-fork and Bulletproof MimbleWimble, Litecoin has expanded the security and anonymity of transactions, helping users to have maximum privacy protection when participating in the network.
• Zero-fee peer-to-peer swaps: Thanks to Lightning Network integration, users can directly swap Litecoin with other cryptocurrencies without any fees. For example, if you want to exchange BTC for LTC, instead of going through a fee-intensive exchange, you can simply find a user with the opposite need and make an instant peer-to-peer transaction.

In addition, Litecoin also possesses many significant advantages such as: almost instant payments, extremely low transaction costs and the ability to manage personal finances without being controlled by any government organization. These factors have made Litecoin not only a copy of Bitcoin, but also an effective payment solution in the digital age.

History of Litecoin Halving and Litecoin Deflation Mechanism

Litecoin Halving is a periodic deflationary mechanism designed to halve the block rewards received by miners every 840,000 blocks, or about 4 years. The goal of this mechanism is to control the rate at which new LTC is issued, thereby maintaining the scarcity and stability of the coin's value over time.

Litecoin's Important Halving Milestones:

• 1st time -25/8/2015: Block reward reduced from 50 LTC to 25 LTC
• 2nd time -5/8/2019: Reduced from 25 LTC to 12.5 LTC
• 3rd time -2/8/2023: Reduced from 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC

Halving events will continue until the maximum supply of 84 million LTC is reached.

Similar to Bitcoin, Litecoin's halving mechanism helps combat inflation by slowing the rate at which new supply is created, making LTC harder to mine and more scarce over time. This could theoretically boost Litecoin's value in the long term, especially if demand remains stable or increases

However, each Halving is also often accompanied by strong price fluctuations due to the dual impact of market expectations and changes in miner profits. Thanks to this mechanism, Litecoin not only maintains its role as an effective means of payment, but also gradually affirms its position as a long-term value storage asset in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Litecoin's Memorable Milestones

• In October 2011, the Litecoin network officially went live. By 2013, the price of Litecoin had increased by 100% in just 24 hours.
• In 2017, Litecoin's market capitalization was in the top 5 most worth-buying digital currencies.
• In May 2017, the first Litecoin (LTC) transaction via the Lighting Network was successful. 0.00000001 LTC was transferred from Zurich to San Francisco in less than 1 second.
• In December 2017, Litecoin reached a historical peak of around $420,marking impressive growth in the cryptocurrency market.
• In 2023, Litecoin surpassed 300 million transactions across the entire network, reflecting the growing trust and usage in the cryptocurrency community.
• In 2024, Litecoin reached 5 million long-term LTC wallet addresses, accounting for about 62.5% of all wallets with balances
• Since the beginning of 2025, Litecoin has increased by about 25%, showing therecovery and stability of this coin in the context of the volatile cryptocurrency market.

So should you start trading Litecoin?

The answer is absolutely yes. Although Litecoin has a lower market capitalization than other popular coins. But according to statistics, it is one of the most traded cryptocurrencies and maintains a top 30 position among more than 18,000 cryptocurrencies. This shows that Litecoin is still a popular and highly liquid cryptocurrency, suitable for all traders.

If you are planning to trade Litecoin short term, here are the advantages for you to consider:

• Pros:Litecoin has been trading since 2011 and is one of the top 10 coins with high trading volume. This means it is a popular choice for investors. If a cryptocurrency has high trading volume, it means you will have no problem finding a buyer to sell to.
• Disadvantages:Volatility is a big problem in the cryptocurrency market. Volatility means that the price of a coin goes up or down very quickly. This can make short-term investments in Litecoin very risky. For example, if you bought Litecoin in late December 2017, its price would have dropped by more than 50% a month later!

And if you plan to trade Litecoin long term, here are the advantages for your reference:

Advantage:

• Full-time leadership:Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin, is currently working full-time on the project. Lee also has a team of highly experienced blockchain experts helping the company grow.
• Long-established:Litecoin is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies with over 7 years of business. In fact, it was the first altcoin! This makes investing in Litecoin less risky than some newer coins.
• Small investments:If you are looking to invest in Litecoin for the long term, you can invest regularly in small amounts. This will allow you to protect yourself from any short-term price fluctuations

Disadvantages:

• Blockchain Scalability:Scalability issues are something that most blockchain projects aim to solve. Solving scalability issues means that the blockchain will not slow down as more people use it. Currently, Litecoin can process about 56 transactions per second. This is better than Bitcoin's 7 transactions per second. However, it needs to be upgraded quickly to be useful in the future.

How to trade Litecoin conveniently and get the best profit?

That is Litecoin margin trading. When you use contracts for difference (CFDs) to trade Litecoin. CFDs allow you to buy and sell LTC beyond the amount allowed in your account at CPT Markets.

Unlike futures and spot trading, CFDs give you the advantage of superior volume, no contract expiration time, high leverage and comfortable two-way trading.

For example: Let’s say you deposit $1,000 into your account. When trading at CPT Markets, you can buy or sell $10,000 worth of LTC/USD on the LTC/USD order book.

This not only gives you the advantage of starting with a small amount of capital, but also gives you the potential for high profits when the market moves in your favor.

Where to trade Litecoin (LTC) safely and reliably?

If you are looking for a safe place to trade Litecoin(LTC) then CPT Markets will be your number 1 choice:

• Trusted Security:Trade with confidence using our secure technology. CPT Markets is regulated by top-tier authorities including the FCA, FSCA, IFSC, and SCA.
• Easy Registration: Register and KYC in just 10 minutes and you are ready to trade LTC.
• Flexible Trading:Go long or short with instant execution, trade short or long term depending on your preference.
• Competitive Edge:Benefit from ultra-low spreads and leverage up to 1:10 to help maximize your profits.
• Innovative Trading Platforms: CPT Markets constantly updates its trading platforms to ensure traders have the smoothest trading experience.
• All-in-One Management:Manage all your information safely and securely with our dedicated client portal.
• Professional assistance:Our support team is available 24/5 to assist with all your trading needs.

Especially when creating a Live account at CPT Markets, you can claim your CPT U Card Online. This is a unique card, which helps you deposit money instantly, and you can use it as a regular payment card and use them online.

In addition, you can own a physical U Card with only a small issuance fee. Helps you pay online, offline in more than 200 countries and experience "Trading Without Limit".

Thank you for accompanying us to the end of this article, CPT Markets hopes that the above article has helped you better understand Litecoin and how to trade Litecoin effectively. Please leave your information or send a direct message via Live chat on our homepage if you want to open an account to start trading LTC in just 10 minutes!