The Zcash (ZEC) price has rallied above the psychological $500 level, providing a bullish outlook for the privacy-focused token. This comes amid a notable surge in whale accumulation and derivatives activity among crypto traders. 

Why Zcash (ZEC) Price Rallied Above $500 Despite Crypto Market Decline

CoinMarketCap data show that the Zcash (ZEC) price has rallied above $500 again, up over 20% in the last week. This comes despite the crypto market downtrend, with Bitcoin trading in a tight range just below the psychological $90,000 level. The ZEC surge above $500 comes amid a significant increase in whale accumulation, which has contributed to this price surge.

Nansen data show a 47% increase in ZEC whale holdings, with the top 100 addresses now holding 66% of the token’s total supply. This has likely created a supply shock, sparking a rise in the Zcash (ZEC) price. Notably, there has been a 55.36% drop in the supply held by exchanges, further highlighting the accumulation trend, with investors likely moving their coins off-exchanges for long-term holding. 

On-chain analytics platform Lookonchain also highlighted the accumulation trend among these whales. In an X post, Lookchain revealed two newly created wallets that withdrew 26,241 ZEC ($13.5 million) from Binance. In another post, the on-chain analytics platform revealed that another whale withdrew 7,714 ZEC ($4.12 million) from Kraken. Lookonchain had also drawn attention to a whale that withdrew 30,000 ZEC ($13.25 million) from Binance last week. 

Activity in the derivatives market has also contributed to the Zcash (ZEC) price rally above $500. CoinGlass data show an increase in the altcoin’s open interest, indicating that traders are increasing their positions. Most of these traders are currently long with the long/short ratio above 1. 

This recovery marks a positive for the privacy token, which had dropped to as low as $310 earlier this month. ZEC is notably the best-performing crypto among the top tokens with a year-to-date (YTD) gain of around 800%. 

‘Next Stop Is $1,000’

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes declared in an X post that the next stop for the Zcash (ZEC) price is $1,000 following its recovery above $500. This represents a potential 100% gain from its current price level. The BitMEX co-founder has been bullish on the privacy token for some time now, predicting it could eventually reach $10,000. 

Meanwhile, Zcash’s co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson suggested that the Zcash (ZEC) price will continue to rally because of its good product, scarcity, and regulatory atmosphere. He noted that privacy is now widely recognized as necessary in crypto. As such, the privacy narrative is expected to keep fueling this price surge. 

At the time of writing, the Zcash (ZEC) price is trading at around $536, up over 3% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.