Zcash hits $1,020, up 20% amid $34M short liquidations

Zcash ripped 20% higher on September 4, touching $1,023 and hitting its highest price in nearly a decade. The move wasn’t gentle about it either: roughly $34.5 million in short positions got liquidated along the way, turning bearish bets into rocket fuel for the rally.

ZEC opened the day around $828, meaning the token gained nearly $200 in a single session. Trading volume surged to approximately $1.2 billion over 24 hours, and the privacy coin’s market capitalization swelled to around $17 billion.

A very expensive lesson for short sellers

The $34.5 million in short liquidations represented the bulk of roughly $36.6 million in total leveraged ZEC positions that were closed during the 24-hour window.

One trader in particular felt the pain more acutely than most. Garrett Jin reportedly lost over $18.5 million on a short position of 32,760 ZEC as the price surged past his liquidation threshold.

Futures open interest in ZEC reached about 2.3 million ZEC at the time, valued at nearly $2.3 billion.

The Grayscale ETF effect

On August 25, Grayscale’s Zcash Trust ETF (ticker: ZCSH) began trading on NYSE Arca. The ETF has climbed roughly 25% since its launch, frequently exceeding record highs in the $77 to $80 range.

Over the past 30 days, ZEC has gained approximately 94 to 96%. Zoom out further, and the numbers get even more dramatic: the token has surged more than 2,300% over the past year.

On-chain data tells its own story

Shielded supply, the portion of ZEC held in privacy-preserving addresses that obscure transaction details, has risen to approximately 4.86 million ZEC. That represents about 29% of the total supply.