Zcash slips out of crypto’s top 10 after 14.4% drop

Zcash has lost its seat at crypto’s top table. ZEC fell 14.4% and dropped out of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, landing at number 11.

The timing stings. Just days earlier, the privacy-focused coin was celebrating a major network upgrade and trading well above $1,300.

What happened to ZEC

The selloff hit on November 10-11, 2026. ZEC touched lows somewhere between $963 and $1,000 before recovering slightly to close the session at around $1,045 to $1,094.

That move left Zcash with an estimated market capitalization close to $16.5 billion to $17 billion. Respectable money, but not enough to hold a top 10 spot.

Traders were clearly paying attention. Trading volume topped $1.3 billion over the 24-hour period, which suggests this was less a quiet drift lower and more a crowded exit.

Leverage made things worse. More than $16.5 million in derivatives positions were liquidated within a single day, and roughly 88-89% of those were long positions.

For anyone unfamiliar, a liquidation happens when a trader borrows to amplify a bet and the price moves far enough against them that the exchange closes the position automatically. Those forced sales add more selling to an already falling market, which can turn a dip into a slide.

The upgrade rally that faded

The backdrop here is Network Upgrade 7, or NU7, which activated on November 6. The upgrade was designed to improve network performance, and it cut block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds.

Markets initially liked the news. ZEC climbed to levels above $1,300 to $1,380 around the activation.

Then came the classic “buy the rumor, sell the news” pattern. Holders who rode the run-up started taking profits once the upgrade was live, and the leveraged longs who piled in late got caught in the reversal.

Institutional money was heading for the door too. The Grayscale Zcash Trust, which trades under the ticker ZCSH and gives investors exposure to ZEC without holding the coin directly, saw outflows exceeding $15 million in November.

How far ZEC has fallen from its peak

ZEC hit its highest value of $1,695 on September 26, 2026.

The November lows represent a drop of roughly 41% from that peak. They also mark the coin’s weakest level since September 5, 2026.

Crucially, none of this appears tied to problems with Zcash itself. There were no reported security incidents or technical failures in the protocol during the decline.

The supply picture

Zcash has a hard cap of 21 million coins. Roughly 17.04 million ZEC are currently in circulation.

As of early November, about 29% of ZEC sat in shielded pools. Shielded pools are the part of the Zcash network where transaction details are kept private, which is the core feature that sets the project apart from fully transparent chains.

What this means for ZEC holders and traders

The first lesson is about leverage. More than $16.5 million in liquidations, overwhelmingly on the long side, shows how quickly crowded bullish bets can unravel when momentum flips.

The second issue is institutional flow. Outflows exceeding $15 million from the Grayscale Zcash Trust in November suggest that at least some larger holders used the post-upgrade strength to reduce exposure.

What to watch from here: whether trading volume stays elevated or dries up, how much leverage rebuilds in the derivatives market, and whether Grayscale trust outflows keep running through the rest of November.