In the long run, LTC always follows big brother.

I don't know if this is considered common knowledge here, but I just wanted to share my 0.02 regarding LTC for new traders.

Litecoin was one of the first alt-coins ever developed after Bitcoin, and is generally seen as it's more liberal little brother. Because of its smaller risk and market cap, Litecoin is able to move more freely (2-3 minute block confirmations), explore alternate ideas (Proof-of-Stake), and implement emerging technologies at a faster pace (like adopting Segwit). If Bitcoin were digital gold, Litecoin would be silver.

In turbulent periods, LTC/BTC move somewhat asynchronously and can be hard to predict. But when BTC blasts-off it will often leave LTC behind, and when the market cools down LTC will always try to catch up. This relationship has been very consistent for many years.

Comment:

The one thing I would add is that, while it's fun to trade between the two and play around with a cheaper coin, everybody usually has one eye on the BTC price. If traders suspect BTC price is going to the moon, they will usually pull out of LTC (and pretty much all other cryptos) to try and catch the wave.

That doesn't mean the inverse is true: If BTC crashes hard, traders will short LTC. Litecoin is not seen as a competitor to Bitcoin and therefore not used as a hedge.

The best times to trade LTC is after the Bitcoin price stabilizes, as altcoin traders will start leaving the BTC market to begin speculating elsewhere, and that's usually when LTC makes it's predictable move to adjust to the new stable Bitcoin price.