Zcash reaches eight-year high above $880 as perpetual futures open interest climbs to $1.8B.
Macro & Markets ·
Zcash reached its highest price level since 2018, touching $888 before settling around $843, representing a climb of nearly 7% over the preceding 24 hours and approximately 48% since August 20. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency's surge has coincided with a sharp expansion in leveraged betting activity, as open interest in ZEC perpetual futures climbed to $1.8 billion on Monday, nearly doubling from $962.5 million just five days earlier. Twenty-four-hour futures volume reached $5.3 billion during this period.
The rapid growth in derivatives positioning reflects intensified trader demand for long exposure. The average eight-hour funding rate stood at 0.0106%, indicating that those holding long contracts paid a premium to maintain their positions. This dynamic creates structural risk: if the price falls sharply, leveraged longs face forced liquidations, while a sustained rally could trigger a short squeeze as traders betting against ZEC cover their positions.
Grayscale's November filing to convert its Zcash Trust into an ETF remains under regulatory review, and interest in the coin has also been buoyed by a Winklevoss-backed mining operation that launched in August. Still unresolved is whether the now-patched vulnerability disclosed in the Orchard shielded pool earlier this year was ever exploited in practice.