Litecoin Price Forecast: After South Korea, Can LTC Find a Safe Haven?
Only days after Litecoin recovered from China’s ban on cryptocurrency exchanges, there appear to be bearish rumblings in South Korea. Specifically, the country banned initial coin offerings or ICOs. This Litecoin news could be potentially disastrous for the Litecoin price prediction.
You see, the vast majority of Litecoin’s trading volume came from Huobi and OKCoin, two Chinese exchanges that are now under pressure to cease operations.
The loss of both exchanges was expected to severely crush any Litecoin price prediction that remained bullish after the ICO ban. Because this is apparently the order of things:
- Rumors of an ICO ban. (Resistance)
- Confirmed ICO ban. (Small correction)
- Rumors of a trading ban. (Correction deepens)
- Confirmed trading ban. (Correction turns into crash)
- Recovery. (Resumes upward climb)
But in the aftermath of the Chinese cryptocurrency ban, trading volumes shifted to South Korea. It became a safe haven of sorts, playing host to the most active Litecoin exchange in the world: Bithumb.
Bithumb accounts for 23.95% of all Litecoin trades, which means that South Korea is extremely important to the Litecoin price forecast. Is it in jeopardy of following China down the rabbit hole?
Luckily, no.
South Korea is definitely banning ICOs, but it seems grudgingly committed to cryptocurrencies.
You have to read between the (admittedly scathing) lines on ICOs to see it, though. By officially calling out ICOs and margin trading, the bureaucrats in Seoul are laying the groundwork for a functioning cryptocurrency market.
In any case, the Litecoin to USD exchange rate is down roughly 1.61% to around $53.66.
Analyst Take:
Fear, uncertainty, doubt. Among cryptocurrency investors, this triangle from Hell is known as FUD. And the market is just recovering from a period of FUD, which means it is vulnerable to backsliding.
With that in mind, it’s possible that we’ll see a short-term dip on “rumors” that South Korea will ban all Litecoin trading, but I don’t think that will actually happen.
I could be wrong; I have been before. But the clarity of the rules released by South Korea make it seem like regulators said their piece, so let’s not reconsider our $200.00 medium-term Litecoin price prediction until more information comes to light.
Also Read: Litecoin Price Prediction 2018: Is Litecoin Potential Higher Than Current Counterparts?
