Zcash (ZEC) climbed 9.2% in one day to $273.36 and has risen 461% in the past month. The move came as broader crypto sentiment flashed extreme fear and major coins slipped, setting ZEC apart from the market’s risk-off tone.
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index dropped to 25, an “extreme fear” zone. In past episodes, money rushed out of small coins into big, easy-to-sell names, but this time Zcash moved the other way as futures bets on ZEC rose 22% in a day to about $303 million, a sign that both speculators and institutions opened new positions.
Bitcoin slipped 0.51% to near $108,002.87 as its option volatility sat above the 200-day average. Ethereum fell 0.98% to about $3,838.34 even as its CME futures open interest hit a fresh record of 2.43 million ETH, underscoring a divergence between price and positioning in majors versus ZEC.
Drivers: privacy, supply dynamics and leverage
The bull case for Zcash rests on privacy: roughly 27.5% of all ZEC sits in “shielded” form, where the sender, receiver and amount stay hidden. Those coins do not rest on exchanges and cannot be sold right away, so fewer coins for sale and more buyers pushed price and futures higher.
Across the wider market, about $600 million of leveraged futures positions were wiped out, a reminder that heavy borrowing still haunts the space. Alex Kuptsikevich summed up the mood: “Buy when everyone is afraid,” while adding that deeper dumps remain possible, highlighting lingering downside risks even amid ZEC’s strength.
An increase in ZEC futures positions signals that traders are bracing for larger price swings ahead. With nearly one-third of Zcash’s total supply locked in shielded addresses, market liquidity is naturally tighter, meaning that any sudden rush to buy or sell can amplify price movements. This structure makes ZEC more reactive to shifts in sentiment or speculative flows compared to other major cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, ZEC’s recent rise against a backdrop of declines in both BTC and ETH has caught traders’ attention. Some see this divergence as a potential hedge, while others view it as an arbitrage opportunity between correlated assets. However, the opacity of ZEC’s on-chain activity—due to its privacy features—poses challenges for funds needing to manage exposure quickly, adding another layer of complexity to ZEC’s trading dynamics.
The 22 Oct snapshot shows a privacy coin rallying while the crowd frets. The next clues are whether fresh futures longs keep arriving and how many shielded coins return to visible wallets — those two flows will decide if the spike lasts or folds.
