ZEC Tops $1,000 After Nearly a Decade, Squeezing Three Whale Shorts

Zcash (ZEC) has rallied more than 100% in the last month, squeezing short sellers whose positions are deepening in red.

ZEC has surged 120% over the past month alone and is now trading close to $1,124. Last week it broke above $1,000 for the first time in roughly ten years.

ZEC Shorts Add to Losses as Zcash Drives the Only Green Sector

The price jump has been expensive for traders betting against ZEC. According to Hyperliquid figures, trader Garrett Jin, under wallet 0x92ea…50e9, holds a short position of 39,760 ZEC valued at $44.86 million, with an average entry of $576.30.

“Garrett Jin just closed his entire 1,332 BTC ($105.4M) long for a $2.7M profit and is now fully focused on shorting ZEC,” Lookonchain posted.

That trade has lost $21.94 million and would be liquidated at $2,540.47. A second wallet, 0xdd53…2b13, is short 27,557 ZEC from $644, with an unrealized loss of $13.33 million.

A third wallet, 0x362a…1d9f, has lost $4.12 million on 15,785 ZEC. Collectively, the three whales face about $39 million in paper losses.

This trader is down over $5M on his $ZEC short.

Previously, he made +$9M in 6 weeks by winning 26 trades in a row.

He remains fully convinced and is not closing his trade.

What does he know? pic.twitter.com/u4eed3sj19

— CryptoGoos (@cryptogoos) September 7, 2026

None of them has closed yet. Funding payments have eased the impact somewhat: Jin has collected $554,850 since opening the trade, as positive funding rates mean longs pay shorts.

These bears are not just fighting a single token, however. They are short the only sector that remains above its level from when Bitcoin (BTC) peaked in October.

Privacy Sector Alone Above October High

Bitcoin is now 36% below its October 2025 all-time high, while the median asset in the top 200 has fallen 58%. Privacy coins stand out, having risen 213% over that period, according to Glassnode.

The sector was valued at $7.1 billion a year ago. Today it is worth $33.6 billion, with ZEC accounting for most of that growth.

Glassnode reports ZEC makes up 62% of the privacy sector by market capitalization and has climbed 2,496% over the past 12 months. Without ZEC, the remaining privacy coins are still up 85%.

Institutional interest has followed. Grayscale launched the first US spot Zcash exchange-traded fund (ETF) on NYSE Arca on August 25, and the fund has attracted $463 million since then.

Still, the concentration poses risks. ZEC futures open interest stands at $2.56 billion, CoinGlass data shows, meaning the same leverage squeezing shorts could hit longs if the privacy rally reverses.