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...