Crypto
Crypto's Old Guard Outran Bitcoin This Week, Led by Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin
Bitcoin Cash rose about 33% in seven days and Litecoin about 25%, both on three to four times their usual volume. Bitcoin itself managed 3.4%.
The best-performing large coins of the past week weren't new tokens or the latest narrative trade. They were some of the oldest names in the market. Over the seven days to September 26, Bitcoin Cash gained about 33% on Binance to trade near $339, Litecoin gained about 25% to around $73, and Ethereum Classic added roughly 10% to about $9.45. Bitcoin, for comparison, rose about 3.4% to around $84,000.
Volume is what makes the move worth taking seriously. Bitcoin Cash's average daily trading value over the past week ran at roughly 4.3 times its average for the prior three weeks; Litecoin's and Ethereum Classic's ran at a little over three times. Bitcoin's own volume was up too, but only by about 1.4 times.
Most of Bitcoin Cash's gain arrived in a burst. On September 22 it sat near $270 through the morning, then jumped to $309 in a single hour starting at 12:00 UTC and closed the day at $345 — up 29% on the session — before touching $366.40 the next morning. Litecoin's biggest day came on September 24, when it went from about $62 to an intraday high near $74.86.
Neither coin is anywhere near its highs. Bitcoin Cash is still below half of the roughly $720 it reached on Binance in spring 2024, and Litecoin is trading at about half of its December 2024 peak near $147. Litecoin is now at its highest level since mid-January; Bitcoin Cash, since late May.
No single catalyst has been clearly identified for the move, and rallies that arrive this fast in older, thinly followed coins have a history of giving back ground just as quickly. We've added the Bitcoin Cash move as a Historical Replay scenario for anyone who wants to step through it hour by hour.