Litecoin Represents The Better Buy for the Nearer-term

Often in the shadow from the epic "battle" between bitcoin and ethereum, litecoin has made ripples in the cryptocurrency markets in its own right, first rising to the $20 mark, then eventually bursting into $50 territory. The former move captured the attention of Coinbase, which adopted the cryptocurrency into its popular service network.

But with most major digital markets, as well as highly-traded altcoins, demonstrating downside volatility, mainstream investors are put off from risking too much capital. For instance, ethereum just tanked hundreds of dollars in a matter of weeks. That's just not the kind of severe selloff that you see in blue chip indices, unless we're talking about an economic crisis.

While acknowledging the broad pain in the cryptocurrency assets, litecoin remains resilient. Presently, litecoin is near all-time records, not falling away from it like bitcoin and ethereum. As a result, the intra-session volatility is very high for litecoin; in fact, it's the highest such metric we've seen since 2013.

That indicates significantly more trading activity, both on the bullish side and the bearish side, for litecoin. It's a marked comparison to the front two cryptos, which admittedly look soft in the nearer-term.

Furthermore, litecoin's intra-session volatility is substantially higher than bitcoin's, to the tune of 70%. This differential margin is a record going back at least four years. More significantly, it suggests that litecoin's trading dynamics are staggered against bitcoin. While bitcoin is hurting, litecoin is rising.

Given the enormous margin of volatility, I'd look for litecoin to make a strong, psychological move, perhaps even challenging the $100 level, before a correction sets in.