Zcash tore past $1,000 for the first time since 2018, catching short sellers off guard in a short squeeze and triggering a 562% imbalance between short and long liquidations. The privacy coin's surge follows a Grayscale spot ETF launch, a mobile speed upgrade for private transactions, and reported talks around a large ZEC token purchase.
Zcash traded as high as $1,051 on September 4, 2026, extending a rally from a $805 low the day before. The move forced traders betting against the token out of short squeeze positions. ZEC pushed past $1,000 for the first time since 2018.
Shorts bear the brunt of $13 million in liquidations
About $13.24 million of leveraged ZEC positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data, with $11.26 million coming from shorts and $1.98 million from longs. That split produced a 562% liquidation imbalance between the two sides. Days earlier, Zcash's rally had stalled below $888, which could be the reason behind traders' bearish stance before the token broke higher.
A rally that stretches back a year
The current run traces back to October 2025, when Zcash broke out of a range that had held since June 2022. ZEC traded as low as $7.7 in April 2025 before staging that turnaround. According to CoinGecko data, Zcash has gained 105% in the past 30 days and 2,395% over the past year, pushing its market capitalization to about $17.25 billion and making it the tenth-largest crypto asset by that measure.
ETF debut and network upgrades add momentum
Grayscale's spot Zcash ETF began trading on NYSE Arca in late August under the ticker ZCSH, and the fund has since crossed $400 million in assets under management, a new high for the first and only Zcash fund. Separately, Digital Currency Group, which controls Grayscale, was in non-binding talks with a subsidiary to purchase 200,000 ZEC. On the technical side, the developers of Zakura, a Zcash node launched in July, released cryptographic tools this month that cut the time to build a private transaction from over three seconds to less than 200 milliseconds on mobile, aiming to make the chain fast enough for everyday payments.
Source: U.Today
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