Zcash (ZEC) climbed nearly 20% in 24 hours on Friday, briefly topping $1,020 as the sudden advance squeezed traders who had bet on a decline. The privacy-focused token was hovering around $1,000 after extending a month-long rally that has nearly doubled its value.
CoinGecko data showed ZEC rising from roughly $828 at the start of the session to an intraday peak of about $1,023. The surge was accompanied by heavy trading, with around $1.2 billion in ZEC volume recorded over 24 hours. Its market capitalization approached $17 billion.
The sharp move higher resulted in substantial liquidations. About $36.6 million in leveraged ZEC positions were wiped out over the period, including approximately $34.5 million held by short sellers, according to liquidation data.
Short positions are liquidated when an asset rises enough to leave traders without sufficient collateral to maintain their bearish bets. Exchanges then forcibly close those positions.
The process can accelerate a rally because traders closing shorts must buy back the underlying asset. ZEC has gained about 94% in the past month and more than 2,300% over the last year, putting it among the strongest-performing major cryptocurrencies during both periods.
Futures Positioning Expands
The rally has spilled into the derivatives market, with ZEC futures open interest reaching approximately 2.3 million ZEC, worth around $2.3 billion. The increase suggests traders are adding futures positions as spot prices continue to climb.
Several developments have helped strengthen the token’s recent momentum, ranging from new institutional exposure to improvements in the underlying network.
Grayscale launched its spot Zcash ETF on NYSE Arca in late August under the ticker ZCSH. The product converted an existing trust that had been restricted to accredited investors into an exchange-traded fund available to investors with standard brokerage accounts.
There has also been potential institutional buying interest. Digital Currency Group, which owns Grayscale, was reportedly involved in non-binding discussions through a subsidiary to acquire 200,000 ZEC, according to CoinDesk.
Privacy Transactions Become Faster
Zcash developers have also made progress on transaction performance.
The team behind Zakura, a Zcash node launched in July, released cryptographic tools earlier this month designed to speed up the creation of private transactions on mobile devices.
The technology reduced transaction-building time from more than three seconds to below 200 milliseconds on mobile, part of an effort to improve Zcash’s usability and make the network more suitable for everyday payments.
