Zcash Surges 20% Past $1,000 as Short Sellers Face $34M Losses

Zcash (ZEC) jumped roughly 20% over the past 24 hours, briefly breaking above $1,020 on Friday as a powerful rally forced traders holding bearish leveraged positions to exit. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency was trading around the $1,000 mark, extending a surge that has nearly doubled its price over the past month.

According to CoinGecko, ZEC climbed from around $828 at the start of the day to a high near $1,023. Trading activity also accelerated, with approximately $1.2 billion worth of ZEC changing hands over 24 hours. Its market capitalization approached $17 billion.

The rapid price increase triggered significant losses among short sellers. Around $36.6 million worth of leveraged ZEC positions were liquidated during the past 24 hours, including approximately $34.5 million in short positions, based on liquidation data.

A short liquidation occurs when an asset rises sharply enough that an exchange is forced to close a trader’s bearish position because the available collateral can no longer support it.

Forced short closures can strengthen an existing rally because traders must purchase the underlying token to exit their positions. ZEC has risen approximately 94% over the past 30 days and more than 2,300% over the past year, placing it among the best-performing large-cap crypto assets during those periods.

Futures Activity Climbs

Zcash’s rally has also attracted traders to the derivatives market. Open interest in ZEC futures increased to about 2.3 million ZEC, representing roughly $2.3 billion in value, as traders expanded their futures exposure alongside the spot-market advance.

The token’s recent momentum has been supported by a combination of technical progress and growing institutional interest.

Grayscale’s spot Zcash ETF began trading on NYSE Arca in late August under the ZCSH ticker. The launch converted a trust previously available only to accredited investors into an exchange-traded fund accessible to anyone with a brokerage account.

Digital Currency Group, Grayscale’s parent company, also held non-binding discussions through a subsidiary about purchasing 200,000 ZEC, according to a CoinDesk report at the time.

Zcash Network Gets Faster

Development on the Zcash network has also continued. The team behind Zakura, a Zcash node introduced in July, released new cryptographic tools earlier this month that significantly reduced the time required to construct private transactions on mobile devices.

The process, which previously took more than three seconds, can now be completed in under 200 milliseconds. The improvement is part of a broader effort to make Zcash fast and practical enough for everyday payments.