Litecoin Technical Analysis (LTC/USD): Litecoin whipsaws, then finds equilibrium, volume low

After some of Litecoin's (LTC) wildest trading in recent memory, it appears to be content with $7.50- roughly the level it started out at before the recent mayhem.

On Thursday, LTC dropped sharply to as low as $6.97, only to roar back by 9% within 2 hours. After appearing to have stabilized, it spiked again to as high as $7.84, a one-week high and making for a total swing of near 12.5%.

LTC is currently trading at $7.47 on BTC-e and is barely moving.

Looking mid-term, LTC continues to trade well below its 50-day moving average (MA). While also declining, the MA is still near $8.50, making for a 12% discount. It has not traded above its 50-day MA since mid-June.

Of note is LTC's ultra-low volumes, averaging less than 5000 per hour. On a 24h basis, only $800,000 worth has been traded. Two months ago, daily volumes were in excess of $3.5 million. Even if LTC's higher dollar-based unit price is taken into account, its peak value was only $12.00 during the period. In other words, dollar-based volume has declined by over 4-fold even though the price hasn't even halved. This, despite the continual launch of new Litecoin-based trading pairs on altcoin exchanges like Cryptsy and MintPal.

With LTC's relative resurgence and BTC/USD's sub-par performance of late, LTC/BTC has made a symbolic comeback close to the psychologically comforting 0.013 range. The pair has tightly clung onto the 0.013 level during the past 36 hours, barely deviating from its mid-point by more than 1% in either direction.