Risk Warning: Your Capital is at Risk.
In this guide to trading Litecoin (LTC), we’ll explain how and where to buy this altcoin. We also compare regulated brokers and cryptocurrency exchanges that allow you to buy cryptocurrency outright or speculate on its price.
In a hurry? If you want to get started trading Litecoin, here are brokers available in that offer Litecoin CFDs, options, forex, and other derivatives:
Disclaimer: Availability subject to regulations.
Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs.
Contents
How Can I Buy Litecoin?
One way to acquire LTC is through a cryptocurrency exchange. You use these exchanges to trade fiat currency for Litecoin.
There are also platforms like Coinbase and eToro that offer crypto-derivatives alongside real LTC spot and margin trading.
Here’s a list of popular cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms available in :
Risks of Exchanges
Keep in mind that you will need to be serious about your security when using an exchange. Always enable two-factor authorization and try to avoid keeping all your coins in a single wallet.
If you lose those your Litecoin trade could end up trapped in a wallet that you can’t access.
Managing your own Litecoin is not easy. Not only do you have to negotiate the exchanges but you also need to take extra care to keep your computer secure.
You need to be wary of phishing scams, viruses, and other risks. You also need to keep very careful track of your wallet’s access codes.
Where Can I Trade Litecoin?
One option is to not directly buy Litecoin at all, and to instead trade derivatives like Contracts for Difference (CFDs), forex, or options using a regulated broker.
This allows you to take advantage of shifts in the market without ever owning a single Litecoin.
IMPORTANT: CFDs are not available in the USA due to local regulation, and regulated brokers do not accept US citizens or US residents as clients.
Crypto Brokers Available in
Here’s a list of brokers available in that offer trading on cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74%-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Please Note: Availability subject to regulations. Cryptocurrency CFDs are not available to UK retail traders.
Reasons to Trade Litecoin
This depends on your knowledge of the market and whether you want to bet for or against Litecoin. Here are some reasons some traders decide to trade this altcoin.
- Network Effects
- High Upside
- Potential Inoperability with Bitcoin
Important: This is not investment advice. We present a number of common arguments for and against investing in this commodity. Please seek professional advice before making investment decisions.
Network Effects
Invariably, when people first get familiar with Bitcoin and start grasping cryptocurrency concepts, at some point, they start looking to see what other coins dominate the space.
Litecoin has grown a reputation for being the ‘silver’ to Bitcoin’s ‘gold.’ By virtue of being around since 2011, it is a longstanding altcoin that has built up a solid community and for this reason, shares some of Bitcoin’s first-mover advantage.
High Upside
As Bitcoin’s blockspace is becoming a rare and expensive resource, as witnessed by its rising transaction fees, Litecoin stands to gain by picking up some of the slack.
As Bitcoin is solidifying as a store of value, many see Litecoin as a possible candidate to pick up the slack and act as a buffer or transaction overflow for Bitcoin.
If Litecoin ends up inheriting this use case from Bitcoin, at such a cheap buy-in, its upside potential should be obvious.
Potential Interoperability with Bitcoin
Litecoin adopted SegWit before it was enacted on the Bitcoin network. The two networks share many key features and both of them have Lightning Network and Atomic Swaps on their roadmaps.
If both technologies come through, it means that the Bitcoin and Litecoin networks will become compatible for low fee inter-blockchain transactions which means that users of both networks could send payments across chains to each other.
Reasons Not to Trade Litecoin
- Follower, not a leader
- The stigma of silver
Follower, Not a Leader
Although Litecoin is more agile than Bitcoin when it comes to deploying new technologies and ideas, such as implementing SegWit months ahead of Bitcoin.
Once Bitcoin eventually deploys these upgrades, they quickly become a moot point on Litecoin as all the interest moves back over to Bitcoin.
Litecoin seems to only choose features that are in Bitcoin’s pipeline and rarely innovates any of its own.
The Stigma of Silver
The negative side of being perceived as the ‘silver’ to Bitcoin’s ‘gold’ is that it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy that Litecoin will always be second to Bitcoin.
Further Reading
- Learn More About Litecoin
- Litcoin Price & Historical Price Charts
- Getting Started With Cryptocurrencies
- Crypto Broker and Exchange Guide
- Learn to Trade Commodities