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Privacy token Zcash (ZEC) faces a 562% liquidation imbalance after a sharp rally forced traders betting against the token out of leveraged positions.
Zcash traded as high as $1,051 on September 4, 2026, building on a sharp surge from a low of $805 on September 3, 2026. Days ago, Zcash witnessed choppy price action as its rally could not break $888, which could be the reason behind traders' bearish stance. Instead, Zcash ripped higher, surpassing the $1,000 mark for the first time since 2018.
Zcash's latest price surge caught traders betting against Zcash's increase off guard. About $13.24 million of leveraged ZEC positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with $11.26 million coming from shorts and $1.98 million from longs, according to CoinGlass data. The percentage imbalance between longs and shorts yields 562%.
The ZEC rally dates back to October 2025, coming out of a range that had been in place since June 2022. In April 2025, Zcash traded as low as $7.7 before a stunning comeback in October of that same year.
Zcash locks in 2,395% yearly gains
Recovering from June's low, Zcash's rally accelerated in August 2026, gaining 105% in the last 30 days and 2,395% over the past year, according to CoinGecko data.
Contributing to the price growth are both technical and institutional developments. Grayscale's spot Zcash ETF began trading on NYSE Arca in late August under the ticker ZCSH. Separately, Digital Currency Group, which controls Grayscale, was in non-binding talks with a subsidiary to purchase 200,000 ZEC.
The developers of Zakura, a Zcash node launched in July, released cryptographic tools earlier this month that reduced the time it takes a wallet to build a private transaction from over three seconds to less than 200 milliseconds on mobile, with the aim to make the chain fast enough for everyday payments.
Zcash's price increase has pushed its market capitalization to about $17.25 billion, ranking it as the 10th-largest crypto asset by market cap.
In a new milestone, the Zcash ETF has crossed $400,000,000 in AUM, marking a new all-time high for the first and only Zcash fund.
Dan Burgin
U.Today Editorial Team
