ZCash (ZEC) was one of the coins that immediately responded to the news of the two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran. ZEC rose above $300, becoming one of the biggest gainers of the day.
ZEC responded to the risk-on trade after BTC also rebounded to the $72,000 range. The privacy coin peaked above $240 during the recent rally, adding more than 21% in the past 24 hours. Volumes also expanded to a one-month high of nearly $800 million last day.
Open interest in derivatives markets also rose by 26% in the past day, with most of the activity focused on Binance. ZEC showed that the cryptocurrency market was ready to pivot despite months of bearish sentiment, boosting assets that showed the potential for strong directional moves.
ZEC’s open interest remains below its end-2025 levels, at $386 million. This time, ZEC has a limited breakout from its record high in November 2025.
Is ZEC’s rise sustainable?
ZEC has raised some doubts in recent months, with a late 2025 rally being heavily promoted by influencers. Later, some ZEC whales sold part of their holdings a class. ZEC went through a significant price decline as well.
Despite this, ZEC still has a community and opportunity for short-term risk upsides. ZCash has a mindshare of 0.5%, up 25% in the past day. This level of exposure on social media remains higher compared to other altcoins and tokens.
ZEC is still viewed with suspicion, and the current rally could be the result of a short squeeze. Based on the currently open short positions, ZEC could continue its liquidation in the $330 range, but the rally may stall and face resistance.
The last day resulted in $2.85 million worth of short liquidations and may prompt some traders to close their positions.
ZEC’s recent rally has helped other privacy coins. XMR added another 3% to over $337. Smaller cryptocurrencies were also in the green, supported by the overall recovery in the cryptocurrency market.
ZCash Shield continues to grow
ZCash protection continues to grow quietly, although the influencer campaign has slowed. There are no signs of unprotecting or selling, and the total protected supply has reached a record high of over 5.17 million.
ZCash mining is also near all-time highs, unaffected by market volatility. However, the current rally may be rejected, and ZEC may return to its bearish structure.
One novel of ZEC was its use in Solana DeFi. Currently, the pace of Solana-based DeFi is slowing down yet Drift protocol hackWhich increases the user’s doubts.
ZEC will have to establish itself as a risky trade, avoiding the fate of most altcoin and token projects. Privacy has remained a major topic in the cryptocurrency space, even without the short-term hype.
