Whale drops $21M long on Zcash while everyone else bets the other way 🐳

Zcash [ZEC] traded at $427 at press time, up 2.6% over 24 hours and 8% over the past week, according to market data. The privacy-focused altcoin has remained pinned between $400 and $430 for four days as it recovers from recent vulnerability concerns without building sustained upside momentum.

Into that consolidation, trader Garret Jin expanded a 2x leveraged long position to 50,100 ZEC, worth roughly $21.3 million, per Hypurrscan. The trade has already moved against him: the position was down approximately $654,000 and had accrued more than $57,000 in funding fees, signaling a high-conviction bet that ZEC can eventually exit its current range.

That conviction is not broadly shared. The aggregate Long/Short Ratio sat near 0.98, with Binance and OKX posting readings around 0.6, indicating that shorts outnumber longs across major venues. Futures positioning also pointed to hedging pressure: more than $122 million flowed into ZEC derivatives over the past eight hours, following roughly $571 million in spot exchange outflows over the prior 24 hours. Rising Open Interest against a sub-1 long/short split suggested a sizable share of the new capital supported short exposure.

Momentum gauges continued to lean bearish. The Bulls vs Bears indicator printed -8.04, and the SMI Ergotic Indicator held below zero, both pointing to ongoing seller control. ZEC remained trapped inside its four-day range as bulls and bears fought for direction.