While the bulk of the conversation about cryptocurrency might focus on famous names like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), it’s a good idea to learn about so-called altcoins like Stellar Lumens (XLM). Once you get to know Stellar Lumens, you might find yourself getting hooked on this unusual crypto coin.
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Sure, you can just bypass the learning phase and start trading Stellar Lumens based on the price action. And for the price-action traders out there, we will examine XLM’s technical aspects.
Still, I invite you to consider Stellar Lumens not only as a vehicle for quick profits, but also as a form of currency that could change the world. As we’ll discover, an argument could be made that XLM is truly the “people’s currency.”
In other words, once you’ve purchased Stellar stock, you might actually find yourself wanting to hold on to it for a long time. With that in mind, let’s delve into XLM’s wide-ranging price moves.
A Closer Look at the Stellar Lumens Price
First off, let’s address the fact that XLM stock is cheap compared to famous cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Indeed, you won’t even need a full U.S. dollar to own an XLM currency unit.
Low-priced assets are sometimes known for making outsized price moves. XLM is certainly no exception to this rule. As evidence of this, we can observe that its 52-week range is from around three cents to approximately 40 cents.
Perhaps its propensity for huge, fast moves explains why Stellar Lumens may be considered by some folks to be a trader’s paradise. The prospect of doubling or tripling your money is within reach – if you have excellent timing.
Just be careful about chasing the price near its peak. Stellar Lumens touched its 52-week high in early January. The price retreated to around 27 cents recently, and that’s an example of how quickly it can drop.
So, please be cautious with Stellar Lumens and only take small position sizes when trading it.
How Stellar Lumens Is Different
Let’s start this section off with a fun fact: Stellar Lumens was created by Jed McCaleb, who also created Ripple (XRP).
You might know Ripple as a low-priced cryptocurrency that’s favored by institutions. One thing that’s different about XLM is that it’s designed to help individuals transfer money.
This doesn’t mean that institutions are barred from using Stellar Lumens. Rather, it means that this token is perfect for people with smaller-sized financial accounts who want to transfer funds across borders without pricey fees.
Based on the Stellar network, XLM tokens not only allow users to send sums of money, but make it relatively convenient and cost-efficient to convert currency. That’s a feature you won’t find in some other crypto coins.
An Accessible Cross-Border Coin
To give you an idea of how accessible XLM is, the official Stellar website reports that “Right now, the minimum balance is 1 lumen and the minimum per-transaction fee is 0.00001 lumen.”
Clearly, Stellar Lumens is built for broad-based affordability. This approach has helped to make the global Stellar network quite popular. In fact, there are 4.3 million accounts currently in existence.
That number might raise the eyebrows of folks who are concerned about inflation. But don’t worry, as there are around 50 billion Stellar Lumens in total and no more of them will be created.
Adding to its appeal is the fact that this stock is flexible between different world currencies. For instance, a user could purchase XLM with one currency. Then he or she could send it to someone in a different geography, who could receive it as a different currency.
The Bottom Line
Flexibility in terms of the destination currency is what helps to make Stellar Lumens ideal for cross-border transactions.
Plus, there’s an affordability aspect to Stellar Lumens. All in all, XLM isn’t just a great coin for short-term traders. It also truly deserves the title of “the people’s money.”
On the date of publication, David Moadel did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.