Litecoin price analysis: LTC/USD loses ground; vulnerable to further losses

• LTC/USD retreats below $73.00 amid strong bearish pressure.
• The initial support is created by $72.00 handle.

At the time of writing, LTC/USD is changing hands at $72.40. The coin has reversed Monday’s gains and resumed the sell-off, moving in sync with the market. LTC/USD,  fifth-largest digital asset with the current market value of $4.6 billion, has lost over 2% of its value on a day-on-day basis and 1.4% since the beginning of the day amid strongly bearish short-term trend.  

On the intraday charts, a sustainable move above psychological $73.00 is needed to mitigate an initial bearish pressure. This support area is closely followed by $73.35 (SMA50 (Simple Moving Average) on 1-hour timeframe) and $73.50 (the confluence of SMA100 1-hour and the middle line of 1-hour Bollinger Band). Once it is out of the way, the upside is likely to gain traction with the next focus on $74.00 and $74.50 strengthened by SMA200 1-hour, SMA50 4-hour and the upper line of 1-hour Bollinger Band.

On the downside, the initial support awaits LTC on approach to psychological $72.00 closely followed by $71.60 (the lower line of 4-hour Bollinger Band). Once below, the downside momentum is likely to gain traction with the next focus on $70.00.

Notably, from the longer-term perspective, LTC/USD is oscillating in a range limited by $70.00 on the downside and $76.00 on the upside. A sustainable move in either direction will create a strong momentum.  

LTC/USD, 1-hour chart