Zcash (ZEC) was trading near $1,213 on October 9, up about 2.2% on the day after recovering from an intraday low of $1,183.24. The rebound follows a sharp selloff that briefly took the privacy-focused cryptocurrency toward $1,100 and leaves it more than 25% below its late-September peak near $1,670.
On the daily chart, ZEC remains above its 50-day EMA at $1,184.74, though the 20-day EMA at $1,337.05 is acting as resistance. The 100-day EMA sits near $963.72 and the 200-day EMA near $740.22. Analysts note that a sustained move above $1,250 could bring $1,300 into focus, while a daily close below $1,185 could expose the recent low near $1,100 and then the psychological $1,000 level.
Short-term momentum indicators are showing tentative signs of easing selling pressure. The 4-hour MACD remains negative with the MACD line at -36.27 and the signal line at -33.19, but the histogram has begun contracting. The Chaikin Money Flow has recovered to -0.03 from around -0.20, indicating that sellers are losing momentum, although buyers have not yet taken clear control.
Developers working on Zakura, a software implementation used to validate Zcash transactions, are targeting January for quantum-resistant payment support. The proposed change would let the network verify hash-based signatures designed to resist attacks from sufficiently powerful quantum computers. Initial protections would focus on transparent transactions, which represent roughly 70% of ZEC supply—about 11.96 million of 16.98 million issued ZEC. Shielded transactions would require separate protections because they use different cryptographic mechanisms. The news follows warnings from Ethereum researcher Justin Drake about future risks from artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
Zcash's next major network upgrade, NU7, entered testnet on October 4. It aims to reduce target block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds and introduce a mechanism that allocates part of transaction fees toward future block rewards. Developers are expected to review testnet results on October 20 before deciding whether to proceed with the proposed November 5 mainnet activation.
Institutional interest is another potential catalyst. Winklevoss Asset Services filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC on October 6 for a proposed spot Zcash exchange-traded fund. The filing included a nonbinding indication of interest from Winklevoss Capital to purchase up to $100 million worth of shares. Separately, Grayscale converted its Zcash Trust into a US-listed spot ETF on August 25 with approximately $304 million in assets under management at launch, though the fund recorded $93.56 million in net outflows during the week ended October 2.
