If You Invested $1,000 In Litecoin One Year Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

Investors who have owned stocks in the past year have generally experienced some big gains. But there is no question some big-name cryptocurrencies have left the stock market in the dust.

Litecoin’s Big Run: One cryptocurrency that has been a great investment in the past year has been the world’s fourth most valuable crypto, Litecoin LTC/USD.

Litecoin has been an exceptional investment going all the way back to its launch in 2011. Litecoin was an early Bitcoin BTC/USD spin-off, and its investors argue it's more scalable than Bitcoin due to its faster transaction verification speed. After Litecoin’s price spiked from around $4 at the beginning of 2017 to around $300 during the peak of the 2017 crypto bubble, Litecoin spent most of the next two years trading back under $100.

Litecoin prices started heading in the right direction in 2020 thanks to massive government stimulus spending to support the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic began, the government has spent more than $6 trillion, and investors concerned about the potential for hyperinflation have poured into cryptocurrencies as potential hedges.

At the beginning of 2020, Litecoin was trading at just $41.33. When March kicked off, the cryptocurrency had risen to $58.53 as news of the virus spreading in China prompted concerns about a U.S. pandemic.

On March 13, 2020, Litecoin plummeted to its pandemic low of $25.57 as global stock markets tanked. The good news for Litecoin investors is that the crypto bounced off that level as the stock market began to stabilize shortly thereafter and the government started printing money.

By Nov. 1, Litecoin was back up to $55.59.

Related Link: If You Invested $1,000 In Binance Coin One Year Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

Litecoin In 2021, Beyond: On Jan. 19, 2021, influential Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk added #Bitcoin to his Twitter bio and tweeted “In retrospect, it was inevitable.” Musk’s tweet sent the entire cryptocurrency market soaring, including Litecoin.

Litecoin ultimately hit a new all-time high of $413.63 in May, but has since pulled back significantly. Today, Litecoin is trading back down at $111.04.

Still, Litecoin investors who bought one year ago and held on have generated huge returns on their investments. In fact, $1,000 in Litecoin bought on June 22, 2020, would be worth about $2,891 today.

Looking ahead, it’s impossible to value cryptocurrencies like Litecoin because they produce no cash flow, pay no dividend or interest and are still used for only a tiny fraction of global financial transactions.

Up to this point, Litecoin has made for a spectacular speculative investment. But until the extreme volatility in the Litecoin market dies down, it will likely have a difficult time winning over investors looking for a safe, secure alternative to cash that won’t keep them up at night.