The short version
- Zcash ETF inflows hit $41.1 million this week, with $20.5 million on Friday alone, while Solana and Hyperliquid ETFs lost at least $32.5 million between them.
- ZEC hasn’t followed: it sits at $1,219, 28% below its $1,698 high, and part of the inflow may be coins swapped into the fund rather than new buying.
- The crew is watching Monday’s flow and $1,368: a close above it reopens $1,698, while losing the 50-day EMA at $1,193 points to $1,049.
The Zcash ETF is the one altcoin fund that buyers came back to this week. Grayscale’s ZCSH took in $41.1 million from Monday to Friday, with $20.5 million on Friday alone, its fourth inflow day in a row, per SoSoValue’s ETF tracker. Over the same days, Solana ETFs lost at least $17.3 million and Hyperliquid ETFs lost $15.2 million.
ZEC hasn’t followed the money. It trades at $1,219 at the time of writing, 28% below its September 26 high of $1,698, and it gave back Wednesday’s jump within two days. So who is buying the Zcash ETF, and why isn’t the price moving with it?
The streak picked up the same week Grayscale opened its funds to coin deposits:
Introducing in-kind investing at Grayscale: contribute eligible digital assets directly in exchange for shares of a Grayscale product.
Benefits for investors include:
– Reduced burden of self-custody
– Potentially lower execution costs
– Incorporation into conventional
How Much Did the Zcash ETF Take In This Week?
$41.1 million net. Zcash ETF inflows started after a $10.45 million outflow on Monday, then got bigger almost every day:
- Monday, October 19: −$10.45 million
- Tuesday, October 20: +$1.61 million
- Wednesday, October 21: +$15.18 million
- Thursday, October 22: +$14.23 million
- Friday, October 23: +$20.52 million
ZCSH now holds $706.7 million of ZEC, about 3.6% of all ZEC in circulation by value. Its running total of net inflows since the August 25 launch stands at $203.8 million.
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Is Money Leaving Other Altcoin ETFs?
Yes, at the edges. Of the 13 altcoin ETF groups SoSoValue tracks, only four others took in anything this week: NEAR $5.2 million, XRP $4.3 million, Litecoin $0.6 million and HBAR $0.1 million. Solana and Hyperliquid funds lost more than all four combined. The other seven had no flows at all.
Add it up and the altcoin ETFs other than Zcash lost at least $22 million between them this week, while ZCSH alone took in $41.1 million. For one week, a privacy coin’s ETF out-pulled the rest of the altcoin ETF market put together.
EXPLORE: Altcoin Season: How It Starts, How to Spot It, and How It Ends
Why Did Buyers Come Back to ZCSH?
Two dates line up. On Tuesday night, Zcash developers set block 3,543,405 as the launch of the NU7 upgrade, which brings 25-second blocks and a fee sink; we covered it in Zcash NU7 Gets Its Block Height. At 04:36 UTC on Sunday the chain stood at block 3,529,734, so NU7 is about 12 days away, around November 5.
The second date is Wednesday, October 21. That morning Grayscale opened in-kind swaps on 10 funds, ZCSH included, so a holder can hand over ZEC and get ETF shares back. The minimum for the Zcash ETF was about $322,600.
The comeback also follows a rough month. The running total of ZCSH inflows peaked at about $306 million in late September, then fell to $152.3 million by October 19 as holders pulled out for most of October. This week won back $41.1 million of it.
Is It New Money?
Not all of it has to be. An in-kind swap shows up in the flow data as an inflow, but nobody buys ZEC on the market for it: coins that already exist just move into the fund. It has happened before. Grayscale’s own filing shows that about $100 million of ZCSH’s early growth came from an affiliate of its sponsor, which swapped 85,705 ZEC for shares in September.
The daily numbers don’t say how much of this week’s $51.5 million from Tuesday to Friday came in as cash and how much as coins. That is the best answer to why the price didn’t follow: an inflow paid in ZEC doesn’t need anyone to buy ZEC.
The futures market didn’t help either. Open interest in OKX’s ZEC perpetual fell from 127,973 ZEC on October 20 to 106,240 ZEC on Saturday, down 17%, with funding close to zero. Leveraged traders cut their bets while the ETF was taking money in.
DISCOVER: Funding Rates and Open Interest: Reading the Leverage in the Market
Zcash Price Analysis: Can ZEC Get Back to $1,368?
Only with a daily close above it. The ZEC price tagged $1,368 on Wednesday, the same ceiling that stopped it in early October, and closed at $1,183 on Friday. It sits just above the 50-day EMA at $1,193 and far above the 200-day EMA at $808, so the bigger trend in the Zcash price is still up.
The levels the crew is watching:
- Bull case: a daily close above $1,368 flips the ceiling and puts the $1,698 high back in view, with NU7 less than two weeks out.
- Base case: ZEC chops between the 50-day EMA at $1,193 and $1,368 into the upgrade while ZCSH keeps taking money in.
- Bear case: a close under the 50-day EMA sends ZEC back to the October 18 low at $1,049.
Watch Monday’s flow number. A fifth inflow day with ZEC holding the 50-day EMA says the buying is real. Another outflow, and this week was a swap, not a comeback.
On the climb since 2017. Trades futures and reads onchain data. Automates the boring parts.
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