Investing.com - Cryptocurrencies registered mixed trade on Tuesday as Bitcoin failed to sustain a rally for another day and hold above $8,000, but Litecoin managed to extend a rally to more-than-a-year high.
Negative sentiment in the largest cryptocurrency helped take some of the wind out of alt coins’ recovery on Monday. Total market capitalization had managed to recover $11.3 billion to end at $255.62 billion in the prior session. Amid typical volatility in digital assets, market cap for all cryptocurrencies had dropped to $250.03 billion by 9:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT) Tuesday.
Bitcoin, the largest crypto, slumped 1.9% to $7,776.2 on the Investing.com Index.
Ethereum dropped 1.2% to $239.74, while XRP fell 2.9% to $0.38847.
Litecoin however was a notable exception, gaining more than 1% at an intraday high of $127.836, its highest level since May 22, 2018.
The fourth-largest crypto by market cap has been on a tear as time runs down to its scheduled halving in August. Miners of the alt coin currently receive 25 LTC as a block reward. In 55 days, when the halving date hits, the reward will be reduced to 12.5 LTC.
Although the creator of Charlie Lee has chimed in that miners will still be profitable when the reward is dropped, traders appear to speculate that the reduction will decrease incentive to create supply, pumping prices for existing Litecoins.