Nowadays, it takes a coin with a smart contract, fast transactions and cheap transaction fees, among other features in order for those coins to catch the attention and money from investors.
I think the "nowadays" you are describing here is the "nowadays" of 2017-22 or so. The "wave" that ended probably with the Solana pump in 2024.
Since then there have not really been changes in the upper part of the rankings (say top-30/40). The "novelty factor" for altcoins
, in particular those which are smart contract platforms, is largely gone. And that's the point where Litecoin could again become interesting, for the following reasons:
- as an established coin with a quite good presence in the payment market
- as the strongest PoW coin after Bitcoin (the merged mining symbiosis with Doge works well and make it more secure than Monero)
- as one of the most decentralized coins of the top-100, after BTC and Monero
- as one of the coins where an ETF could be launched potentially in the future
- as a coin which tends to explosive growth, the few times it pumps (say the spectacular 2021 pump from about $40 to $400).
But on the other hand, some of you are right: there is currently not really a narrative or sentiment which favours LTC. The small pumps we have seen have all stalled in the 125-135$ area.
I think thus this is a classic "can't really tell" or 50/50 situation. If there is another attack on the $135-40 mark and altcoins see another small "season", then it could not be impossible to see it approach its old ATHs, but it's still difficult. It may outperform BTC though.