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Zcash spent most of 2025 being ignored, but this week it demanded attention. $ZEC surged 62% in five trading days, briefly touching $390 before pulling back to consolidate around $371.
The move made it one of the strongest performing assets in crypto this week, outpacing Bitcoin by a significant margin and catching a large number of short sellers badly positioned.
What Triggered It
The immediate catalyst was the announcement of a two-week US-Iran ceasefire, which sent risk assets broadly higher. $ZEC responded with unusual speed and force, partly because a crowded short position amplified the move.
As prices broke upward, traders who had been betting on continued weakness were forced to close, adding mechanical buying pressure on top of genuine demand.
The On-Chain Picture Is Different This Time
What separated this rally from a simple short squeeze was what the blockchain data showed simultaneously.
Grayscale’s Zcash Trust absorbed $46 million in shielded $ZEC during the April 8 to 9 window alone. Shielded pool usage, which measures fully private transactions, hit record highs during the same period. Network hashrate also reached all-time highs, a combination that pointed to genuine network demand rather than purely speculative positioning.
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Where Analysts See It Going
Three separate analyst voices this week pointed toward further upside.
CoinBureau set a near-term target of $420, citing momentum and improving fundamentals. Ali Martinez, one of the most followed on-chain analysts in the space, went further, targeting $440 based on technical structure.
The Long-Term Case
While near-term analysts debate $420 and $440, at least one longer-term technical analyst is looking at numbers that would represent a complete transformation of $ZEC’s market position.
The analyst Emilio Crypto ₿ojan pointed to a double bottom formation on $ZEC’s chart, saying that the coin took what they described as “the path of the stronger scenario” by clearing the upper resistance level, which also served as the neckline of the pattern.
Source: X
The published targets: $1,100 as a second target and $1,497 as a third target. “Once these coins start rising, no one can stop them,” the analyst wrote.
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