It’s been nine years since the launch of the popular privacy coin, but whales have started to sell.
By Wahid Pessarlay
Editor Julia Sakovich
Updated
2 mins read
Zcash ZEC $333.8 24h volatility: 8.9% Market cap: $5.47 B Vol. 24h: $730.62 M , a privacy coin launched on Oct. 28, 2016, is seeing a sell-off from large players on its birthday.
ZEC dropped 8.5% in the past 24 hours and is currently trading at $325. Its market cap fell below $5.3 billion, with a trading volume of $784 million. On Oct. 27, Zcash became the 25th-largest cryptocurrency in the market. At the moment of writing, it is in the 26th position.
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju pointed out that retail investors have been buying ZEC, and the spot activity is overheated at the moment.
Zcash is in distribution phase. pic.twitter.com/x3ZoXQ60o3
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) October 28, 2025
In his case, small investors have been buying ZEC lately while the large players have been selling for profits.
ZEC would need a stronger interest from whales and institutional investors to neutralize the current sell-off.
Zcash’s total open interest is still hovering above $520 million, close to its all-time high, according to data provided by CoinGlass.
The rising OI simply means that traders and short-term holders have been highly involved in ZEC’s latest price movements. And it also triggers higher price volatility for the asset when liquidations are triggered.
Data from Coinglass shows that traders have been consistently betting on the ZEC price correction over the past week. The short liquidations pushed the asset’s price to new local highs, but the start of long liquidations could trigger a deeper fall for the privacy coin.
Some investors have been expecting a new ATH for Zcash, but that target just seems unrealistic with the current market conditions.
At this point, ZEC would need a $97 billion market capitalization to break its 2016 ATH of $5,941. The token has a circulating supply of 16.28 million ZEC.
Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article aims to deliver accurate and timely information but should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Since market conditions can change rapidly, we encourage you to verify information on your own and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content.
Wahid has been analyzing and reporting on the latest trends in the decentralized ecosystem since 2019. He has over 4,000 articles to his name and his work has been featured on some of the leading outlets including Yahoo Finance, Investing.com, Cointelegraph, and Benzinga. Other than reporting, Wahid likes to connect the dots between DeFi and macro on his newsletter, On-chain Monk.
