Zcash Shorts Suffer $22.6M Losses as Price Holds $1,000
Zcash (ZEC)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
bitcoinethereumnews.com reports that Zcash is holding near the $1,000 level while short traders absorb heavy losses during a recent rally. The asset recently traded around $1,020 after breaking through the psychological $1,000 mark for the first time since its early trading period. Coinalyze data indicates that 24-hour ZEC liquidations reached approximately $24.2 million, with $22.6 million coming from shorts compared to only $1.5 million from longs.
This imbalance highlights the intensity of the squeeze occurring against a derivatives market carrying over $2.3 billion in open interest. The rally has pushed ZEC up roughly 27% over seven days, with a market capitalization standing around $17 billion. Institutional interest has grown following the launch of Grayscale’s Zcash ETF, ZCSH, on NYSE Arca on August 25.
As of September 4, ZCSH held $463.2 million in assets, including approximately 444,608 ZEC. The Block estimates that ZCSH attracted at least $34.4 million in net inflows since its launch. Regulatory clarity improved earlier this year when the SEC ended its Zcash Foundation investigation without enforcement action. Despite the strong performance, the large leveraged positioning means the rally remains sensitive to further price movements.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for ZEC, measured when this story was written up on 6 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Whalio data shows ZEC trading at $1,025.95 with a 24-hour buy ratio of 53.0%, indicating that buyers dominated the daily flow. However, shorter timeframes show a shift, with the 1-hour buy ratio at 49.2% and the 4-hour ratio at 48.4%, suggesting immediate buying pressure is fading relative to the daily average. The 24-hour volume delta is positive at $8,418,025, resulting in a cumulative volume delta of $12,977,556 by close. In contrast, the 1-hour volume delta is negative at -$257,960, and the 4-hour delta is -$2,486,403, reflecting recent selling pressure. This divergence implies that while the day ended with net buying, the most recent hours saw sellers taking control. The spot volume for the period was $136,791,153 across 480,713 trades.
The latest daily buy ratio of 52.9% sits at the 82nd percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 50.2% - stronger buying than most days.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for ZEC, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the average buy ratio was 50.4%, making the latest day’s 53.0% ratio 2.7 percentage points higher than the weekly norm. This indicates that the current day experienced a higher proportion of buying activity compared to the average daily measurement. Volume on this day was 0.77 times the weekly average, showing that trading activity was below the typical level for the coin. The 8-day price change was +21.9%, with a total volume delta of +$10,505,669 over that period. While buying intensity was above average, the lower volume suggests this was not an unusually high-volume day relative to the weekly baseline.