Litecoin (LTC) gets back to the lower border of the channel - where from here?

• LTC/USD has lost nearly 50% of its value in three months.
• At the time of writing, the coin is moving within the short-term upside channel.

Litecoin, now the fifth-largest digital asset with the current market value of $4.5 billion, has lost nearly 50% of its value in just three months. While the coin managed to regain some ground from the recent low of $62.16, it is still mored in the long-term bearish trend. 

While the fundamental reasons for Litecoin’s underperformance remain unknown, cryptocurrency experts point out that profit-taking after a strong rally in the first half of the year might have caused the sell-off. 

Litecoin’s price increased by nearly 400%, from about $30 in the beginning of the year to $150 in June. Obviously, these sharp gains eventually transformed into a strong downside correction from the overbought levels. 

"This is pure profit taking by people who are smart enough to know that LTC is neither bitcoin nor is it ethereum. Both of those currencies have large and devoted followings and developers, whereas LTC has...not much," claimed Dave Hendricks, co-founder and CEO of digital asset management platform Vertalo.

Litecoin’s long-term technical picture

Looking technically, LTC/USD has reached the lower boundary of a short-term upside channel currently at $71.70. Once it is out of the way, the downside is likely to gain traction with the next focus on critical $70.00 and the lower line of daily Bollinger Band at $64.30.

On the upside, we will need to see a sustainable move above SMA50 (Simple Moving Average) daily at $75.00  for the upside to gain traction. The next resistance is created by the upper line of the channel at $77.80.

LTC/USD, daily chart

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