Bitcoin (BTC), Cryptocurrency, Litecoin (LTC)–While most investors focus on the price movement of Bitcoin as it nears $4,000, Litecoin has quietly posted the highest price gain on the day for coins ranked in the top ten.

Litecoin, which currently holds the seventh position in total market capitalization, climbed 11 percent against the U.S. dollar over the last 24 hours, marking the first rally for the coin to start the new year. While 2018 was an abysmal year for LTC–and nearly all tokens–with the price of a single Litecoin falling 90 percent over twelve months, the currency is off to a strong start in the first week of 2019.

The coin managed to reach an intra-day high of $36.14 before slipping back to its present price of $34.76 (as of writing). While the LTC rally has accompanied a positive day for Bitcoin, with the number one cryptocurrency by market capitalization nearing a breakthrough of $4,000, Litecoin has largely been trading off of recent news out of crypto exchange OKEx. On Jan 3., OKEx announced expanded support for its perpetual swap feature, including the addition of LTC, Ethereum and XRP among several other currencies.

Even with investors bullish on the announcement out of OKEx, Litecoin has managed a long history of trading as the “silver” to Bitcoin’s “gold.” While the coupling of the two currencies diminished during the prolonged bear cycle of 2018, with LTC losses outpacing that of Bitcoin since their respective all time high, Litecoin has still benefited from its close association with Bitcoin.

In addition, the Litecoin Foundation has been one of the more active crypto organizations, spearheading a recent promotion with the UFC to have their logo displayed in the ring for a pay-per-view match-up. UFC 232, with a viewership reportedly over 2 million and heralding the return of superstar fighter Jon Jones, featured Litecoin and the LTC logo as the Official Cryptocurrency Partner for the event

Excited to announce that the Litecoin logo will be on the canvas as the Official Cryptocurrency Partner of @UFC 232 on 12/29 in Inglewood CA! Read more: https://t.co/y4yvPWb6rj pic.twitter.com/ddML54j5GH — Charlie Lee [LTC⚡] (@SatoshiLite) December 26, 2018

The Litecoin Foundation’s unorthodox route for advertising has been a welcome sign after a number of scrapped development’s hampered LTC’s growth in 2018, including the high-profile termination of the Litepay project. With today’s price spike, Litecoin nears a significant “flappening” milestone for the coin in overtaking Stellar XLM for the sixth-largest market cap position.

Charlie Lee, Litecoin’s founder, also contributed to the positive development on the day by re-tweeting that the LTC Lightning Network had surpassed 100 active nodes.

Lee, who has been criticized for infamously selling his LTC holding at the coin’s all time high in December 2017, has made an effort to help the currency along in recovery. The coin founder explained at the time of selling that it was his intention to improve the decentralization of Litecoin and to shift the spotlight away from him as a vocal supporter for the coin. Lee also warned investors at the time to be wary of the bull market continuing indefinitely, as cryptocurrency neared a $1 trillion market capitalization, and to be prepared for a bear market to follow which could take years to recover from–a prediction which is proving salient as the industry enters 2019 on a shaky valuation.