Even though Zcash ( ZEC ) price rallied more than 100% over the past three months through October 15, 2026, the crypto asset was among the worst hit in the top 100 cryptocurrencies amid a broader sell-off driven by heightened liquidations.
At the time of reporting, Zcash price traded at approximately $1,098, down 8.61% on the day, according to data Finbold obtained from CoinMarketCap.
Zcash price performance on October 15. Source: CoinMarketCap
As a result, Zcash saw its market capitalization shrink to roughly $18.58 billion at the time of writing. Amid increased selling pressure, ZEC’s 24-hour trading volume had surged 17.88% to $1.19 billion at press time.
Notably, ZEC was fourth among the top losers on Thursday, as per metrics from CoinGecko . The leading three crypto losers today, among the top 100 by market cap, were Bitway ( BTW ), Rain ( RAIN ), and Pump.fun ( PUMP ).
Top cryptocurrency losers on 10/15/2026. Source: CoinGecko
Why is Zcash down today?
As Zcash price followed the broader cryptocurrency market in a selloff, catalyzed by the hotter-than-expected inflation data from the United States, it fueled a long squeeze, an accelerated selling pressure fueled by liquidated long positions.
At the time of publication, of the liquidated $19.67 million Zcash positions over the past 24 hours, $16.75 million involved longs compared to $2.91 million in shorts, as per updates from CoinGlass, a crypto data platform.
ZEC’s derivatives performance on October 15. Source: CoinGlass
During the same period, ZEC’s Open Interest (OI), the total unsettled futures in the derivatives market, fell by 3.45% to $2.26 billion.
Despite the Zcash community awaiting the implementation of a major network upgrade dubbed NU7 (Network Upgrade 7), to speed up transaction times across the network, its social mentions have significantly declined.
ZEC’s OI and social sentiment change for 1 month. Source: Santiment Intelligence
Earlier on Thursday, Santiment revealed that Zcash recorded 50 mentions on October 14 across its tracked platforms compared to a volume of 671 on September 18, 2026.
Consequently, ZEC faced stronger selling pressure over the past 24 hours due to a broader crypto selloff amid lower investor demand.
Featured image via Shutterstock
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