Litecoin Flips Bitcoin Cash in Crypto Rankings With Rally to 9-Month Highs

Litecoin jumped to nine-month highs early on Tuesday, replacing bitcoin cash as the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market value.

Trading down slightly at $74 at press time, litecoin is still up 9% on a 24-hour basis.

Litecoin now has a market capitalization of $4.90 billion, higher than bitcoin cash - which underwent a hard fork on Sunday - at $4.67 billion.

Once referred to as the silver to bitcoin's gold, litecoin has far fallen behind the top cryptocurrency in recent years.

Bitcoin's market cap is now near $310 billion, over 60 times greater.

Litecoin's recovery from September lows near $40 picked up the pace on Oct. 21 after online payments giant PayPal announced support for the cryptocurrency alongside bitcoin, ether and bitcoin cash.

Litecoin jumped over 13% at the news, confirming a bullish pattern on technical charts, and has remained bid ever since.

While litecoin is up 80% this year, bitcoin has gained over 120%. The first cryptocurrency reached a 33-month high of $16,885 on Monday and was last seen at $16,700.

Bitcoin's continued rally looks now to be dragging along alternative cryptocurrencies in general.

Chainlink's LINK and Stellar's XLM have gained 5% on a 24-hour basis, while XRP has risen by 10%. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, is up over 2% at $465. However, unlike litecoin and bitcoin, many top altcoins have yet to challenge their respective third-quarter highs.