ZCash (ZEC) was one of the few major assets to extend its growth, despite the recent crypto market weakness. ZEC held above $1,200, while BTC dipped below the $80,000 level.
ZEC traded at $1,241.59, gaining around 2% over the past day, while the rest of the market took a downturn. Trading volumes showed concentrated activity, pushing to a one-week high of $789.16M. Most of the ZEC activity was concentrated on Binance and OKX, some of the key sources of liquidity.
ZEC has entered another cycle with expectations of a price drop. ZEC already slid from the $1,600 range for the past month, but the recent price action suggested the price is still unpredictable in the short term and may cause liquidations.
ZEC open interest remains elevated, at over $1.5B. In the past month, the influence of futures trading accelerated for ZEC, becoming responsible for some of the recent price moves. As a result, ZEC rallied beyond the initial hype, which was fueled by spot buying.
Open interest gained around 4% in the past day, as more whales took directional positions, including shorting the coin.
ZEC supported by another short squeeze
Short open interest for ZEC stands at around 48%, while funding rates are still positive. Overall, ZEC shows a prevalence of long positions, and certain whales have moved in with aggressive shorting.
On-chain data shows a total of 532 whales are holding short positions on ZEC, up from 500 whales just a day ago. Positions data also shows only 15% of whales hold long positions on ZEC as a whole, while crowd money is 50% long.
While the recent price move may be partially a short squeeze, ZEC is currently balanced in a tight range. Both long and short positions are within a thin margin of the market price, potentially triggering more liquidations in either direction.
Additionally, ZEC may be threatened by a $4M sell wall at $1,232, causing a wave of long liquidations.
ZEC perpetual futures trading has expanded significantly on Hyperliquid, which now surpasses Binance in open interest. On Hyperliquid, whales have taken the opposite stance, with over 74% holding long positions. The leading whale positions are still short, with the top whale holding a $65M in value and $5M in unrealized profit.
At the same time, ZEC traders may attack those whales in an attempt to liquidate their large positions before they close them. Currently, Hyperliquid whales also receive significant funding fees for holding positions on the short side.
ZEC shielding recovers in new pool
The ZEC shielding issue is getting resolved, as the compromised Orchard pool was emptied out.
Over 4.98M ZEC are shielded, with around 4.7M moved to the new Ironwood pool, which has resolved the potential unlimited minting bug.
ZEC shielding may be a bullish factor, though it still raises concerns for being a mechanism to disguise funds from previous hacks. On-chain investigator ZachXBT has traced a potential 2.7K ZEC into the Ironwood pool, which has been linked to the Bitget hack from September 2026.
Shielding takes ZEC off the market, but may not be the scarcity signal for traders. As ZEC activity shifts to perpetual futures markets, speculative positions may be more influential than spot ownership and more closely watched for signs of a breakout.
The bullish narrative for ZEC still exists, expecting the price to move to a higher range over a longer time frame.
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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