Litecoin price clings to $90 support as hype around LTC halving declines

• Litecoin halving is scheduled to occur on August 2, less than a week away. 
• The boost surrounding LTC on social media slowly wanes, and LTC price trades near support at $90. 
• Litecoin network’s social dominance is at levels previously seen in spring.

Litecoin (LTC), one of the largest altcoins in the crypto ecosystem, is looking south despite getting closer to its halving scheduled for August 2. While usually crypto assets tend to see a price increase right before a halving event, some of the altcoin’s on-chain metrics have recently worsened, painting a bearish picture for its price.

Litecoin trades at $91.25 at the time of writing,  above a key support level at $90.

LTC hype fades as Litecoin halving draws closer

Less than a week away from the halving, discussions about Litecoin among holders and traders are declining, according to the altcoin’s social dominance and daily active addresses in its network. 

Based on data from crypto intelligence tracker Santiment, daily active addresses on Litecoin hit a peak in May and also increased somewhat in June, but dropped to  an average level in the week 4 of July. Address activity hasn’t been significant recently, as seen in the chart below, and the spike in trade volume registered in the first week of July has failed to catalyze a recovery in the altcoin’s price.

Litecoin price, active addresses (24h) and trade volume (Santiment)

Similarly, social dominance, an on-chain metric that measures the mentions of the asset across social media platforms, is at levels previously seen throughout April and May. A spike in social dominance is typically correlated with a price rally in the asset. However, in Litecoin’s case,  social dominance has waned throughout July. 

Price and social dominance (Santiment) 

These bearish on-chain metrics, combined with lackluster price action from the altcoin, indicate that LTC price may fail to make a recovery to its $100 psychological target in the short term. It remains to be seen whether the halving event acts as a bullish catalyst for LTC.

Litecoin trades  at $91.18 on Binance at the time of writing. The immediate support for LTC is at the $90 level, followed by the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $87.46. In the event of a bullish trend reversal, Litecoin price is likely to attempt a recovery with a target of $100, previously attained in mid-July.