The 10th largest cryptocurrency, Litecoin (LTC), is back on the uptrend after reaching another yearly above $430 AUD ($330 USD) this weekend.
Although the cryptocurrency has not crossed its all-time high (ATH) yet, which was $360 USD back in Dec 2017, this new trend upwards is more than welcomed for the LTC community, who have been patiently waiting.
Interest in Litecoin in Soaring
The chart below shows the price action of LTC which you can see is showing a strong uptrend.
Litecoin is often ignored as a “store of value” and more seen as a “payment coin” which is backed up by the increase of transactions, rising significantly since the beginning of the year. Transactions in Bitcoin and Ether are quite expensive compared to Litecoin being 15% lower fees than BTC.
New LTC Addresses Reach Three-year High
New Litecoin addresses have also been increasing over the past months, which is indicative of the growing demand and interest in the LTC ecosystem.
On the seven-day moving average (7D MA), the number of new LTC addresses spiked to a three-year high of 4,990.982, according to data from Glassnode, an on-chain crypto analytics platform.
For today’s trading news, we’re looking at three Altcoins that might breakout this week by showing bullish trends in the charts.
1. Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin is a cryptocurrency that was designed to provide fast, secure, and low-cost payments by leveraging the unique properties of blockchain technology.
The cryptocurrency was created based on the Bitcoin protocol, but it differs in terms of the hashing algorithm used, hard cap, block transaction times, and a few other factors. Litecoin has a block time of just 2.5 minutes and extremely low transaction fees, making it suitable for micro-transactions and point-of-sale payments.
Litecoin Price Analysis
At the time of writing, LTC is ranked 9th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $261.43 AUD. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis.
March brought an instant turn in LTC’s retracement as the price pumped nearly +41% into the resistance near $256 AUD.
A daily gap and down candle between $238 AUD and $215 AUD may support a push through the high of around $297 AUD.
Bulls looking for longer-term plays could wait for a retracement to probable support near $210 AUD and potentially down to support at $195 AUD.
Extensions based on February’s retracement suggest that $385 AUD and $470 AUD may be the following primary targets. The swing high’s resistance near $296 AUD provides a logical area to take first profits.
2. VeChain (VET)
VeChain is a blockchain-powered supply chain platform. VeChain aims to use distributed governance and Internet of Things (IoT) technology to create an ecosystem that solves some of the major problems with supply chain management.
The platform uses two in-house tokens, VET and VTHO, to manage and create value based on its VeChainThor public blockchain. The idea is to boost the efficiency, traceability, and transparency of supply chains while reducing costs and placing more control in the hands of individual users.
VeChain Price Analysis
At the time of writing, VET is ranked 18th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $0.0983 AUD. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis.
VET shot up nearly +84% from the February open as the price aggressively challenges the last high and resistance near $0.0985 AUD.
Bulls waiting to get on board could watch support near $0.0853 AUD, just above the series of swing highs near $0.0834 AUD.
A deeper retracement to end the month could reach as low as $0.0755 AUD, which would run the swing lows down to $0.0735 and provide a better entry.
Overlapping extensions hint at the areas around $0.1145 AUD and $0.1250 AUD as logical take-profit zones.
3. Stellar (XLM)
Stellar is an open network that allows money to be moved and stored. One of its goals was boosting financial inclusion by reaching the world’s unbanked — but soon afterward, its priorities shifted to helping financial firms connect with one another through blockchain technology.
The network’s native token, lumens, serves as a bridge that makes it less expensive to trade assets across borders. All of this aims to challenge existing payment providers, who often charge high fees for a similar service.
Stellar Price Analysis
At the time of writing, XLM is ranked 13th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $0.4919 AUD. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis.
XLM’s bullish February turned into March consolidation, which is likely to break upward if market conditions remain bullish.
Support may be forming around the current area near $0.5021 AUD, giving bulls an aggressive entry with a wide stop.
A sweep of February 23rd’s low near $0.4125 AUD into the support just below would give a much higher risk-reward entry. If the price drops this far, it could reach support near $0.3846 AUD.
Overhead, several layers of resistance rest near $0.5381 AUD, $0.6137 AUD, and $0.6641 AUD. Confident bulls could take profits at the swing highs accompanying this resistance.
More patient bulls waiting for higher risk-reward entries could watch for setups to form in potential retracements from these levels.
Where to Buy or Trade Altcoins?
These 3 Altcoins have the highest liquidity on Binance Exchange so that would help for trading on USDT or BTC pairs. However, if you’re just looking at buying some quick and hodling then Swyftx Exchange is an easy to use popular choice in Australia.
A decentralized network, Flare, which wants to bring full smart contract utility to the fourth-largest cryptocurrency Ripple (XRP), will also support Litecoin (LTC), according to the information shared on Friday. This should be a good development when launched, as it will open up more access and value for Litecoin. Also, the Flare network team mentioned on Twitter that LTC holders would equally receive the Spark (FLR) token.
More Interoperability for Litecoin
Flare is a distributed network that integrates the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The team precisely noted that they would integrate Litecoin ahead of the Flare network launch, which is scheduled to hold later in quarter two of this year. When the network finally launches, LTC holders will be able to use the cryptocurrency with “Ethereum style smart contracts,” although only on Flare.
The development will give Litecoin “interoperability and composability,” Flare said. Additionally, the Flare foundation agreed to allocate about five billion Spark tokens to LTC holders. There wasn’t any more information provided regarding the FLR distribution method for LTC participants. However, Flare Foundation noted that its token allocation would be reduced to support the LTC holders. Hence, the estimated amount of FLR to be distributed to XRP holders won’t be changed.
Bitcoin Next?
Having announced plans to add Litecoin to the network, Bitcoin (BTC) could be the next digital currency in line. When Flare began pushing the initiative with Ripple, the CEO, and co-founder, Hugo Philion, mentioned that they would expand the network to include other cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin and Litecoin. Meanwhile, some people think there’s some sort of rule change, as Flare previously noted that more coins would be supported only when voted by the FLR holders.
“[…]and then also in that Flare paper, it’s defined something called the Spark-derived applications, and these will allow that system to expand such that the value from other networks that are not Turing complete, like Bitcoin or Litecoin, could be replicated in the same way that FXRP is being put onto the network. That is something that will have to be a governance issue and something that Spark token holders will vote on overtime.”
The year 2020 can be summed up in two distinct phases for the digital asset market: a half year of strong growth, followed by a no less sharp decline. Nothing unusual for this ecosystem. Nevertheless, prices remain at higher levels than at the beginning of the year. For Bitcoin, which is the primary asset, we are nevertheless seeing +300% growth over the year, which preserves its status as the most attractive asset in all types of markets.
Today we’re going to look at the top 10 best performing crypto of 2020 so far, that gave huge returns to traders and investors.
1. Hex (HEX) +8870%
HEX is an ERC20 token designed and launched by Richard Heart on 2 December 2019 on the Ethereum network. HEX is designed to be a store of value to replace the Certificate of Deposit as the blockchain counterpart of that financial product used in traditional financial markets. HEX is also designed to leverage off the emerging DeFi (Decentralised Finance) ecosystem in cryptocurrencies within the Ethereum network. HEX uses the Ethereum network for the transaction layer (sending and receiving HEX tokens, as well as interacting with the HEX smart contract), whilst the consensus code and staking mechanism is contained in the HEX smart contract.
Price Analysis Jan-Dec
On November 19th HEX’s Big Pay Day highlights the strong finish to an exciting yearlong launch phase, crediting active stakes with 183 Billion HEX worth over $750 Million dollars. The design intention is never a promise, but seeing HEX perform as designed appears indeed very promising: HEX’s price has gone up 92x vs Bitcoin, 79x vs Ethereum, and 115x vs USD. It did all of this in just 129 days. By design, HEX enriches The Staker Class with a highly attractive APY plus additional rewards.
Reasons why HEX Might Have Gone Up
The recent rise in Bitcoin over +200% since the halving in May and then the suggested start of the Altcoin season could have contributed to this price rally and another factor could be due to HEX addresses a larger market than Bitcoin with superior product fit. The United States and China have over $7.2 Trillion in time deposits. This is a 50% larger market than the peer-to-peer currency market Bitcoin was designed to address where printed cash totals about $5 Trillion.
While HEX might be the first coin to ever have two independent security audits, due to apparent gatekeeping practices by the ever-popular CoinMarketCap HEX has yet to be ranked correctly there. In fact, CoinMarketCap has suspiciously pegged HEX at Rank 201 – appearing buried on page 3. This not only makes it extremely difficult for new investors to discover HEX but also calls data reporting practices into question.
2. Theta (THETA) +2267%
Theta (THETA) is a blockchain-powered network purpose-built for video streaming. Launched in March 2019, the Theta mainnet operates as a decentralized network in which users share bandwidth and computing resources on a peer-to-peer (P2P) basis. The project is advised by Steve Chen, co-founder of YouTube, and Justin Kan, co-founder of Twitch.
Price Analysis Jan-Dec
So far the year 2020 the value of THETA has almost grown 9 times from $0.25 AUD in January 2020. Market capitalization has also more than doubled from $150M AUD million at the start of the year to $297M today. This growth has been thanks to the recovery of the crypto markets in general after a sharp decline in 2018. 2019 up to the start of 2020 was the time coins really took off and recorded massive growth rates. Many have claimed that this may have just been due to the hype and perhaps even a bubble. When crypto prices started to decline, some investors thought it was the end of the coin market, but instead, it has remained very stable. This is because crypto has finally been embraced by institutional investors who have the resources to purchase large amounts of crypto.
From the above chart showing the price of THETA over its lifetime, it doesn’t look much different from that of many other coins in the market. Since January 2020, most coins have gained their value and market capitalization as well for various reasons. It would seem that THETA has also returned huge profits in the year 2020 and it should be interesting to see how it performs in 2021.
Reasons why Theta Might Have Gone Up
The recent rise in Bitcoin over +200% since the halving in May and then the suggested start of the Altcoin season could have contributed to this price rally and recently, the developers released the mainnet update and added smart contract functionality. Also, the team announced the upcoming improvements, including the launch of the Theta Wallet Chrome extension and Theta Token Minter functionality that will allow users to create their own tokens on the Theta blockchain.
3. Synthetix (SNX) +1263%
Synthetix is a derivatives liquidity protocol on Ethereum that enables the issuance and trading of synthetic assets. Each synthetic asset (or Synth) is an ERC20 token that tracks the price of an external asset; for example, each USD token tracks the price of the US dollar (and unlike the other synthetic assets, is fixed at 1). A wide variety of Synths exists within Synthetix, including fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies, commodities, and inverse indexes. In principle, the system can support any asset with a clear price and provides on-chain exposure to an unlimited range of real-world assets. The protocol will enable a variety of trading features including binary options, futures, and more.
Price Analysis Jan-Dec
Synthetix is an Australian project, founded in 2016. The creators of the project went further and developed a system of 2 tokens:
Synthetix Network Token is a token that provides liquidity in the system.
Synths is a token whose value is tied to the price of a real asset (fiat, precious metals, company shares).
The Synthetix Network Token prices have gone up from 1.45 AUD to 15.62 AUD in one year. The long-term earning potentials were +233.23% in one year. In June 2020, the price fluctuated from $7.52. AUD to $14.12 AUD in late November 2020. Synthetix price today is $16.62 AUD with a 24-hour trading volume of $362.42 M and a market cap of $1.40 B.
Reasons why SNX Might Have Gone Up
The recent rise in Bitcoin over +200% since the halving in May and then the suggested start of the Altcoin season could have contributed to this price rally and Staking is another feature that is likely attracting users due to its relatively high annualized percentage yield based on the protocol’s cash flow mechanism. Essentially, the fees that occur from trading on Synthetix are collected and distributed pro-rata to SNX stakers.
The combination of a spike in interest in Synthetix from the Coinbase listing and the platform’s overall rise in user activity likely triggered the +100% rally since late November.
4. Ethereum (ETH) +704%
Ethereum is a decentralized open-source blockchain system that features its own cryptocurrency, Ether. ETH works as a platform for numerous other cryptocurrencies, as well as for the execution of decentralized smart contracts.
Ethereum was first described in a 2013 whitepaper by Vitalik Buterin. Buterin, along with other co-founders, secured funding for the project in an online public crowd sale in the summer of 2014 and officially launched the blockchain on July 30, 2015.
Price Analysis Jan-Dec
Ethereum had the eventful year 2020, with a few technical update hiccups and some interesting innovations. The year 2020 saw the emergence of Decentralised Finance (DeFi), almost all of whose projects are based on Ethereum technology.
The community is eagerly awaiting the ETH2 upgrades that will ultimately ensure that the network has the capabilities to become the blockbuster of tomorrow’s innovative financial products
The coin started the year with the price of only $169 AUD on January 1st, 2020. 12 months later, its price went up by nearly 9 times, currently sitting at $1,450 AUD. While the coin is still not even halfway to its own all-time high, it has made significant achievements towards getting there.
Right after the start of the year, ETH participated in a strong rally that took its price from the mentioned level of $169 to $381 AUD. The coin was attempting to reach the $500 AUD mark, getting quite close to it before the rally ended, and a correction hit.
Around July 20, the ETH price managed to break out and skyrocket to its next major resistance at $550 AUD. It reached this level just as the first week of August ended, and it kept trying to break it for months, finally succeeding in the early days of November 2020.
Reasons why Ethereum Might Have Gone Up
The recent rise in Bitcoin over +200% since the halving in May and then the suggested start of the Altcoin season could have contributed to this Ethereum Price rally, It could also be due to the ETH 2.0 upgrade.
Chainlink (LINK) is a decentralized oracle network that aims to connect smart contracts with data from the real world. Chainlink was developed by Sergey Nazarov, with Steve Ellis as the other co-founder. It held an ICO in September 2017, raising $32 million, with a total supply of 1 billion LINK tokens. LINK, the cryptocurrency native to the Chainlink decentralized oracle network, is used to pay node operators.
Price Analysis Jan-Dec
ChainLink saw a significant price movement in January 2020 and ended in February. During this period, the coin managed to grow from $2.74 AUD to $5.60 AUD in the short time frame. In March, it crucially fell back to its previous price point of $2.89 AUD. In April, it managed to recover, climbing back to $3.55 AUD. Then on July 7, 2020, the LINK price underwent an impressive surge as China’s national blockchain network, the Blockchain Service Network (BSN) was activated with 135 nodes integrated with Chainlink price oracles.
The news saw the LINK price surge from around $6.87 AUD to an all-time high of $9.60 AUD, with gains of +29% percent on the day. Chainlink continued an ascending trendline into mid-August, gaining bullish momentum. Into late September 2020, it saw sudden bearish activity before beginning its climb once again into October.
At the time of writing, ADA is ranked 9th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $21.04 AUD. According to CoinmarketCap, the cryptocurrency has now broken into the top 10. Before the end of 2020, Chainlink is most likely to gain more against its AUD/BTC pair and touch around $23.04 AUD.
Reasons why LINK Might Have Gone Up
The recent rise in Bitcoin over +200% since the halving in May and then the suggested start of the Altcoin season could have contributed to this massive rise. And some other several things that have made Chainlink grow into what it is currently. One of the factors that made it rise is the number of products offered. People can get crypto loans, make savings, and even earn interest on their Chainlink coin.
Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain platform that says its goal is to allow “changemakers, innovators and visionaries” to bring about positive global change. The open-source project also aims to “redistribute power from unaccountable structures to the margins to individuals” — helping to create a society that is more secure, transparent, and fair.
Price Analysis Jan-Dec
Cardano performed well at the beginning of the year, rising to $0.0927 AUD by 13 February. ADA may have continued to grow, but the entire crypto market has suffered, and Cardano fell as low as $0.0457 AUD by 13 March. After testing all-time lows, the crypto coin’s price rebounded to as high as $0.2543 AUD on 27 July, showing a seven-fold increase in price since the March drop. Currently, Cardano looks bullish, consolidating above the $0.3107 AUD support level and trading at $0.3845 AUD per coin.
The Cardano cryptocurrency looks very promising, so the number of investors willing to invest in ADA is gradually rising. The forthcoming October update of the voting and governance protocol may lead to a price increase.
Reasons why Cardano Might Have Gone Up
The recent rise in Bitcoin over +200% since the halving in May and then the suggested start of the Altcoin season could have contributed to this Ethereum Price rally, It could also be due to this year that has been most significant for the Shelley hard fork 10, beginning Cardano’s transition from a federated blockchain to a decentralized and robust network of independent stake pools. Shelley was also the first time that IOHK’s Hard Fork Combinator 1 was deployed, enabling the seamless transition from Byron to Shelley.
Shelley saw the arrival of staking and delegation, representing the first time that all ada holders could participate in consensus on the network, and earn staking rewards for their contribution.
7. Stellar (XLM) +506%
Stellar is an open network that allows money to be moved and stored. When it was released in July 2014, one of its goals was boosting financial inclusion by reaching the world’s unbanked — but soon afterward, its priorities shifted to helping financial firms connect with one another through blockchain technology. The network’s native token, lumens, serves as a bridge that makes it less expensive to trade assets across borders. All of this aims to challenge existing payment providers, who often charge high fees for a similar service.
Price Analysis Jan-Dec
The positive sentiments of being an efficient blockchain payment network have moved swiftly from XRP to XLM because of Stellar’s recent partnership with the Ukraine government to digitize their national fiat currency. Stellar has upgraded its platform from Protocol 13 to Protocol 15 on November 23rd and the upgrade has improved sponsored reserves and claimable balances on the platform.
With a market cap of $10,728,525,470 AUD and a circulating supply of 20,853,997,348 XLM, Stellar has taken a strong position in the list of top-20 cryptocurrencies, occupying 9th place at the moment of writing. Stellar’s closest rivals are Ethereum, TRON, and Cardano.
By the end of October 2020, the cryptocurrency was trading at around $0.1475 AUD, which is -30% lower than the XLM 52-week high of $0.1785 AUD from August 17, and +192% higher than the 52-week low of $0.0587 AUD from March 12, 2020.
Reasons why XLM Might Have Gone Up
The recent rise in Bitcoin over +200% since the halving in May and then the suggested start of the Altcoin season could have contributed to this price rally and some other factors include on April 11th, 2020, the Stellar Lumens Foundation released its report for Q1 2020, showing excellent ecosystem growth. What’s more, the total usage and transaction volumes had increased in comparison to Q4 of 2019. Interestingly enough, though, the total number of registered Stellar accounts decreased by 1.79% between Q4 2019 and Q1 2020. When you take the 8% increase of trading volume into account, this means that the increased activity was due to existing users. Stellar’s daily operations also managed to increase by an incredible +113% from Q1 2020 to Q3 2020.
VeChain is the world’s leading blockchain platform offering Blockchain-as-a-Service to enterprises for products and information. By leveraging on blockchain technology, VeChain strives to build a trust-free and distributed business ecosystem, which is self-circulating and scalable.
Price Analysis Jan-Dec
VeChain was long considered one of the hottest cryptocurrencies. Since 2015 the project exists, which wants to score, especially with actual applications and partnerships. After positive news and new announcements made the round in the last weeks, it is time for a small VeChain analysis.
The project, therefore, remained under the radar for a long time. From August 2018 to March 2020, short-term successes and newly established partnerships were able to give the coin a slight boost. However, the big break from the negative trend failed to materialize for a long time.
In March of this year came then the break-in with all cryptocurrencies. All the same, whether Bitcoin, Ethereum, or evenly VeChain (VET): High two-digit exchange losses shift the market into a deep red. VET course: Over +400% growth since March 2020. After it came with nearly all cryptocurrencies to substantial corrections, many investors used the opportunity to buy undervalued Coins. The VeChain share price recovered enormously well in the period from March to June. In June, the VET price was around 0.01457 AUD, while in March, it was just 0.0089 AUD.
In the period from June to July, VET rose again. In August this year, VeChain reached an annual and, at the same time, an all-time high with a price of 0.045 AUD.
Reasons why VeChain Might Have Gone Up
The recent rise in Bitcoin over +200% since the halving in May and then the suggested start of the Altcoin season could have contributed to this price rally and also in a press release, the VeChain Foundation has announced its participation in the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub. Created by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), the initiative is part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers from renowned entities.
9. Bitcoin (BTC) +338%
Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer online currency, meaning that all transactions happen directly between equal, independent network participants, without the need for any intermediary to permit or facilitate them. Bitcoin was created, according to Nakamoto’s own words, to allow “online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.”
Price Analysis Jan-Dec
At the start of the year, bitcoin was still considered a fringe investment, disparaged by the likes of the billionaire investor Warren Buffett as having “no value.” By the end of the year, however, bitcoin has nearly quadrupled in value, reaching an all-time high above $46,560.57 AUD and thrusting itself into the center of conversations among big investors and Wall Street firms.
Some bitcoin proponents saw the success of the cryptocurrency and its underlying blockchain network as validation of a landmark technology that might forever change finance.
At the time of writing, BTC is ranked 1st cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $44,736 AUD. Bitcoin started its rally from Jan 2020 with $12,754 AUD price levels and dropped again in March around $8654 AUD.
As May arrived, the Bitcoin network’s upcoming “halving” seemed like an afterthought compared with the steep economic toll of the coronavirus.
As of early October, bitcoin prices were trading around $16,800 AUD, up +50% on the year. It was already an impressive gain, especially during a year when the global economy had suffered its worst contraction since the Great Depression nearly a century early. U.S. stocks were up 4%.
Reasons why Bitcoin Might Have Gone Up
The recent rise in Bitcoin over +200% since the halving in May was the major reason behind this massive rally in Bitcoin.
Halvings will keep occurring every four years until the supply cap of 21 million bitcoin has been reached,” the analysts wrote. This means we can project well into the future, and have clarity about what Bitcoin’s inflation rate will look like one, five, or 10 years from now.
10. Litecoin (LTC) +261%
Litecoin is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency created by Charlie Lee, a former Google employee, in 2011. The cryptocurrency was created based on the Bitcoin protocol, but it differs in terms of the hashing algorithm used, hard cap, block transaction times, and a few other factors. Litecoin was released via an open-source client on GitHub on Oct. 7, 2011, and the Litecoin Network went live five days later on Oct. 13, 2011.
Price Analysis Jan-Dec
Although Litecoin has been around since 2011, an ‘official’ Litecoin price history begins in early 2013 when CoinMarketCap went live. Litecoin spiked from a price of around $3 AUD to $40 AUD during the first crypto market bull run in late 2013. After dropping back down to the $3 AUD – $5 AUD range, it hit an all-time high of nearly $550 AUD during the 2017-2018 bull run, a 100x rally.
Litecoin has been moving sideways since the March 2020 flash crash, hovering at a price between $120 AUD to $190 AUD and currently sitting around $206 AUD. Support appears to be around the $130 AUD -$170 AUD range and it appears that the sideways trend will continue. Trading volume for Litecoin has been increasing gradually since December however, which may be indicative of another move to a $250 AUD price.
Currently, Litecoin (LTC) is trading at $206.58 AUD with LTC price +6.03% up today. The market cap of Litecoin is $13,876,355,385 AUD with 66,245,618 LTC circulating currently. The 24-hour price movement chart indicates that $10,774,415,054 worth of LTC was trading.
Reasons Why Litecoin Might Have Gone Up
The recent rise in Bitcoin over +200% since the halving in May and then the suggested start of the Altcoin season could have contributed to this Ethereum Price rally, It could also be due to the Litecoin’s halving – a pre-programmed reduction in the block reward LTC miners receive – caused the LTC price to skyrocket, reaching over +200% returns before it began to correct.
Where to Buy or Trade Altcoins?
These 10 Altcoins have the highest liquidity on Binance Exchange so that would help for trading on USDT or BTC pairs. However, if you’re just looking at buying some quick and hodling then Swyftx Exchange is a popular choice in Australia.
Apart from its volatility, one other known problem when using cryptocurrency for payments is that the blockchain network fees can vary largely from day to day.
To help diagnose the fees we transferred $100 AUD to BTC, LTC, ETH and USDC and sent them to an external wallet to see the fees charged by the exchange platform and the blockchain network fees. Note: all fees shown as at 31/12/2020and sent using CoinJar to an external walleton chain.
AUD to BTC to External BTC Address
$100 AUD (CoinJar cash account)
Converted to 0.00262679 BTC (A$98.96). 1% conversion fee.
Sent to an external BTC address
Received 0.00220921 BTC (A$82.90)
Network fee: 0.00041758 BTC (A$15.67)
Total fees: A$17.10 (17.1%)
AUD to LTC to to External LTC Address
$100 AUD (CoinJar cash account)
Converted to 0.6 LTC ($98.96). 1% conversion fee.
Sent to an external LTC address
Received 0.6 LTC (A$98.96)
Network fee 0.00000373 LTC (A$0.00062)
Total fees: A$1.04 (1.04%)
AUD to ETH to to External ETH Address
$100 AUD (CoinJar cash account)
Converted to 0.1 ETH (A$98.96). 1% conversion fee.
Sent to an external ETH address.
Received 0.09131 ETH (A$89.53).
Network fee: 0.00869 ETH (A$9.43)
Total fees: A$10.47 (10.47%)
AUD to USDC to External USDC Address
$100 AUD (CoinJar cash account)
Converted to 75.63 USDC (A$98.96). 1% conversion fee.
Sent to an external USDC address.
Received 70 USDC (A$92.00)
Network fee: 4.928023 USDC (A$6.42)
Total fees: A$8.00 (8%)
Conclusion
Here is a comparison of network fees for each crypto we tested (when sending approximately A$100 worth).
Coin
Approximate Network Fee
BTC
15.83%
LTC
0.0001%
ETH
9.53%
USDC
6.49%
Comparison of network fees for cryptocurrencies
Litecoin (LTC) has by far the cheapest fees (almost non-existent) compared to BTC, ETH and USDC. As we know, the BTC network fee doesn’t vary based on the amount, but rather on the network conditions at the time of transfer. Therefore, sending larger amounts would make the fees more easily acceptable.
A recent report shows what cryptocurrencies Australians are holding in their portfolios. Over 1,000 Australians were interviewed, interesting revealed that the northern territory is the largest holder of digital assets compared to the other states.
What Coins Are Aussies Hodling?
Not surprisingly, the most popular asset held is Bitcoin (BTC). One surprise though was although Ethereum (ETH) is the second most popular crypto by market cap, more Australians are holding Ripple (XRP).
Bitcoin: 74%.
XRP (Ripple): 28%
Ethereum: 27%.
Bitcoin Cash: 17%
Litecoin: 15%
Chainlink: 5.2%
Others 8.5%
While these are currently the most popular in the average Aussie portfolio, other tokens amounted to a total of 8.5%. Interestingly, the crypto held by Australians mostly resembled the actual order by market cap, similar to that of a “crypto index”.
Millennials Are Making The Most Out Of Crypto
The report also suggests, adults between the ages of 25 and 45 consider cryptocurrencies as savings for their future. At least 18 % of Australians own some token, and 2 out of 5 consider it a good investment.
About 42.7% of those interviewed said they increased their capital by making successful investments in the cryptocurrency market. In contrast, only 20% have lost money. Last year, only 35% of those surveyed increased their wealth.
Cryptocurrencies in Australia are more popular among the youth. However, Australians who have increased their wealth the most are adults between 45 to 50 years old.
Australians Are More Positive About Crypto in 2020
Above all, the survey has reflected a more positive attitude towards digital assets in Australia for 2020. Bitcoin has gained more attention in these last few months, breaking all time highs. This marks a milestone in the history of BTC — which could attract more people looking for more diversity in their financial investment portfolios.
For today’s trading news, we’re looking at three altcoins that might breakout by showing bullish trends in the charts.
1. Ripple (XRP)
Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange, and remittance network created by Ripple Labs Inc., a US-based technology company.
XRP Price Analysis
At the time of writing, XRP is ranked 3rd cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $0.6960 AUD AUD. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis.
If we see the above 2-hour candle chart, we are moving in a symmetrical triangle, just tested the lower support line of this triangle, and we can expect the movement to the upper resistance line. If we breakout from this ABCDE triangle pattern, XRP might start a new bullish trend.
“A symmetrical triangle is a chart pattern characterized by two converging trend lines connecting a series of sequential peaks and troughs. Trend lines that are converging at unequal slopes are referred to as a rising wedge, falling wedge, ascending triangle, or descending triangle.”
2. Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency created by Charlie Lee, a former Google employee, in 2011. The cryptocurrency was created based on the Bitcoin protocol, but it differs in terms of the hashing algorithm used, hard cap, block transaction times, and a few other factors.
LTC Price Analysis
At the time of writing, LTC is ranked 5th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $107.69 AUD AUD. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis.
If we see the above 1-day candle chart, Litecoin LTC is forming a rising wedge pattern by making higher-highs as resistance, if LTC bounces back from the blue support line and breaks the previous resistances it can continue the bullish trend with massive gains on different trading pairs like LTC/BTC or LTC/USDT.
“A rising wedge is a technical indicator, suggesting a reversal pattern frequently seen in bear markets. This pattern shows up in charts when the price moves upward with pivot highs and lows converging toward a single point known as the apex.”
3. Neo (NEO)
Neo bills itself as a “rapidly growing and developing” ecosystem that has the goal of becoming the foundation for the next generation of the internet a new economy where digitized payments, identities, and assets come together. Initially known as Antshares, this project was believed to be China’s first-ever public blockchain when it was launched in February 2014. The open-source platform subsequently rebranded to Neo three years later.
NEO Price Analysis
At the time of writing, NEO is ranked 23rd cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $22.81 AUD. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis.
NEO is testing the weekly trendline and monthly structure. If NEO bounces back from the support and breaks the previous resistance at $24.06 AUD & $29.50 AUD respectively, we can see the bullish uptrend in prices for NEO on different trading pairs like NEO/BTC or NEO/USDT.
NEO has been in a consolidation period since breaking the $20.45 AUD price levels , looking for a delayed bullish run after watching bitcoin sit & close above higher highs with other altcoins market trends.
Where to Buy or Trade Altcoins?
These 3 Altcoins have the highest liquidity on Binance Exchange so that would help for trading USDT or BTC pairs. However, if you’re just looking at buying some quick and hodling then Swyftx Exchange is a popular choice in Australia.
Litecoin LTC is flipping on a 4-hour candle chart, LTC just went up over +16% in a single day. Let’s take a quick look at LTC price analysis and possible reasons for the recent breakout.
What is Litecoin?
Litecoin is a peer-to-peer Internet currency that enables instant, near-zero cost payments to anyone in the world. Litecoin is an open-source, global payment network that is fully decentralized without any central authorities.
Litecoin Quick Stats
SYMBOL:
LTC
Global rank:
6
Market cap:
$7,763,926,899 AUD
Current price:
$115.84 AUD
All time high price:
$509.34 AUD
1 day:
+16.42%
7 day:
+5.42%
1 year:
+83.99%
Litecoin Price Analysis
At the time of writing, LTC is ranked 6th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $115.84 AUD. This is a +5.42% increase since 24 November 2020 (7 days ago) as shown in the chart below.
If we see the above 4-hour candle chart, LTC did a strong breakout from the falling wedge pattern & is now heading towards its major resistance of the month. After BTC did a new historical high today, LTC looks well-positioned to test the $100 AUD price levels.
“The Falling Wedge is a bullish pattern that begins wide at the top and contracts as prices move lower. This price action forms a cone that slopes down as the reaction highs and reaction lows converge.”
When the price reached the lower support line, LTC immediately began its upward movement. The price was again able to break through the upper lines and continue to grow. Now the Litcoin is moving along the support line that accompanies the initiative from the very beginning of the price growth.
What do the technical indicators say?
The Litecoin LTC TradingView indicators (on the 1 day) mainly indicate LTC as a buy, except the Oscillators which indicate sell as a neutral.
So Why did Litecoin Breakout?
The recent rise in Bitcoin over 100% since the halving in May and then the suggested start of the Altcoin season could have contributed to the recent breakout. Another reason could be the whales secretly buying LTC for the next Altcoins rally & it could also be contributed to some of the recent events.
LTC has the highest liquidity on Binance Exchange so that would help for trading LTC/USDT or LTC/BTC pairs. However, if you’re just looking at buying some quick and hodling then Swyftx Exchange is a popular choice in Australia.
Pet Parlour is the first Australia pet shop to accept cryptocurrency through their partnership with digital currency exchange Coinbase. Customers can pay using Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dai, Ethereum or Litecoin.
Launching in November, Pet Parlour aims to deliver high quality pet products fast to Australian consumers. Founder Tom Sadler says,
“Our approach is unique in the Australian market. We wanted to offer our customers every possible payment solution. By offering multiple payment options we are aiming for a frictionless customers experience.”
At the moment, it looks like the pet shop mainly offers Dog products including dog food, toys and shampoo. They are supporting many brands, including the Australian Naturals range, where every product bought also supports an Australian business.
Along with accepting cryptos as payment, customers also have the option of paying via Visa, Mastercard, PayPal or Afterpay.
Developing Trend – Australian Businesses Accepting Crypto as Payment
Cryptocurrency is not yet adopted mainstream as an everyday payment option, but this trend is slowly changing as we see more Australian businesses consider accepting it.
While Pet Parlour is the first Australian pet shop to go down this route, it’s a trend we have seen emerge from other industries. South Korean electronics giant Samsung Group renewed its partnership with crypto shopping application Lolli earlier this month, providing opportunities for shoppers to earn reward points in Bitcoin when shopping for Samsung products.
Cryptocurrency is growing in popularity, and we are starting to see many online shops support them as a payment method across Australia. Previously we have also seen many Australian restaurants support cryptocurrencies as payment. With worldwide e-commerce sales also rising it has been also suggested we may see giants such as Paypal and Amazon enter the e-commerce space soon. And we also saw Mastercard announce Crypto Card Partner Program, Making it Easier for Consumers to Hold and Activate Cryptocurrencies.
This highlights the potentials of cryptocurrency becoming a legitimate form of value transfer.