Zcash Hits Highest Price in Nearly a Decade, Crushing Short Bets

In brief

• Zcash climbed as much as 20% to an intraday high of $1,029 on Friday, its best level in a decade, as about $34.5 million in short positions got force-closed on the break above $1,000.
• The move built on Thursday's rally after Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he'd be "inclined to support" holding rates steady, pulling September hike odds to 50.4% from 63.2% and setting off more than $415 million in short liquidations across crypto.
• Friday's August jobs report showed the U.S. added 162,000 jobs against a forecast of 56,000, sending Bitcoin back under $80,000 on renewed hike bets even as Zcash held on to most of its gains.

Zcash broke above $1,000 on Friday, its best price in almost a decade, extending a run that started near $500 a month ago. The token touched an intraday high of $1,029 on Binance before easing to around $984, up roughly 20% over 24 hours, scoring a new all-time high.

The privacy coin’s market cap climbed toward $17 billion, enough to push ZEC past Dogecoin among the ten largest cryptocurrencies, according to CoinMarketCap.

The break above $1,000 caught short sellers off guard. About $34.5 million in short bets got force-closed as the price of Zcash punched through the round number, according to CoinGlass data, pushing total ZEC liquidations to roughly $36.6 million. Every trader forced to buy back a short adds real demand, which is part of why the rally kept accelerating.