Zcash cruised past $1,000 last week for the first time in eight years. It topped the milestone by surging even higher over the last five days.
The reason for the surge is not far-fetched. One news piece noted that the launch of exchange-traded funds tied to the altcoin was the fuel. It gained a whopping 24% between last Thursday and Friday, culminating in the asset adding over $200 to its value.
However, tracking the ETF by Grayscale, the cryptocurrency failed to react days after the launch. In hindsight, the biggest part of the uptrend took place between August 17 and 23. The investment fund went live on the 25th, and ZEC plummeted, shedding more than 7% and remaining range-bound for an extended period.
The asset broke out last Thursday and attained the now-celebrated milestone. Many may wonder why the asset failed to surge on the launch date and why it suddenly picked up last week. It becomes even hazier given that the crypto market did not experience any massive uptrends during this period.
Investors’ interest in the ETF was reignited. The fund received little attention within the first few days of going live but piqued interest days later. The chart above better explains what happened. Between August 25 and September 1, the market price of ZCSH was an average of $65, and volume was 191,700.
Starting September 2 ushered in a change. Demand began rising, and the price per share followed the trend. By the 4th, volume had hit the highest level since inception. As of the previous intraday session, the market price for the fund was at $100 and crossed 1 million on Tuesday.
With ETF demand rising, the unanswered question is whether the uptrend will continue. Investors are massively positive that this will be the case as they position for a surge to $1,500. However, there are key lessons to learn from other launches.
ZEC Broke the Pattern
The first-ever spot exchange-traded fund tied to a cryptocurrency was launched in January 2024. The spot Bitcoin ETF thrilled the market, but traders took profits when it went live. They ended the trend a few days later as interest in the asset reignited.
The second such investment went live six months later: the spot Ether ETF. Massive profit-taking followed. Interestingly, the downtrend lasted over three months before a major recovery. The last case study is the Solana exchange-traded fund, which went live in October 2025. Investors treated it as another sell avenue.
All three launches had one thing in common: the sell-off that followed. However, their durations varied. The Ethereum ETF featured the same trend that plagued other such investment funds tied to alternative cryptocurrencies.
In Bitcoin’s case, the decline and range-bound movement lasted only a few weeks, while the altcoins saw losses extending for months before surging.
Zcash is different. The downtrend only took place on launch day, and consolidation followed. The coin is currently rising amid the slow trend across the market. It appears ZEC is plotting its own path following the ETF launch. It remains to be seen if it has evaded the sell-offs the other assets experienced.
Of the three previous ETFs, ZCSH is behaving more like BTC. This means that the main asset under consideration may have skipped the extensive downtrends that plagued other altcoins.
Bitcoin’s uptrend after its exchange-traded fund went live lasted more than two months. It remains to be seen whether ZEC’s will last that long.
Signs That Zcash Will Soon Retrace
With Zcash skipping the extensive downtrend period, the unanswered question is how long the uptrend will last.
The fears that the asset may have peaked become more palpable given trading actions on Thursday, which saw the asset lose more than 13%. In hindsight, the rejection at $1,300 and subsequent decline during the previous intraday session may heighten these concerns.
Data from Grayscale also shows a notable correlation between price action and ZCSH. Value per share dropped by over $10, and volume plummeted to 678K.
At the time of writing, ETF data for Friday is still unclear, but ZEC is up over 10%. Nonetheless, with the recent fund inflow from the investment fund playing a huge role in price action, it is easy to assume that the volume is picking up.
It becomes harder to predict how long the uptrend will last given the current fuel. However, if interest in exchange-traded funds dwindles, it will also translate to the ZEC price. At the time of writing, there have been no significant indications of a short-term (lasting a week) relapse in ZCSH volume.
Using BTC as a case study, there is an increased chance that the uptrend lasts up to a month. However, there is one caveat to watch: general crypto sentiment. At the time of writing, there is mild optimism. While most major assets are range-bound, the slight positivity is the needed fuel to maintain the liquidity inflow into the ZEC ETF.
Conversely, if market conditions change negatively, it will result in the upward momentum fading.
How High Will Zcash Go?
Before flipping $1K, the toughest resistance sat around $950. With ZEC now above $1,000, the asset has entered relatively untested territory, meaning there are fewer established historical resistance levels above it. Zcash is undergoing what analysts call price discovery, and as such, most set targets lack the “lack of demand concentration” element seen in tough barriers.
Nonetheless, the recent rejection at $1,300 suggests that bullish pressure is weakening. If buying pressure continues to decline, it could trigger a significant downtrend. However, flipping the $1.3K resistance could pave the way for the asset to break above $1,500 within the next seven days. If investor interest in ZCSH remains strong, the asset could surge toward $2K within the next three weeks.
Notwithstanding, it is worth noting that ZEC is no longer experiencing the same level of buying pressure seen between last Thursday and Sunday. This decline could signal the beginning of a broader price correction and a slowdown in ETF inflows, potentially bringing the current uptrend to an end. In such a scenario, the asset could plummet below $800 within the same period.
