Zcash News Today: Cool-headed Whale's High-Risk Gambit: $4.8M Profit Amid $4M ZEC Losses

A prominent crypto trader known as the "Cool-headed Whale" has trimmed its Zcoin (ZEC) short position, but the overall unrealized loss across its short portfolio has surged to $4.05 million, according to monitoring by HyperInsight. The trader, which has garnered attention for its aggressive market moves, currently holds a $41.74 million short position in Bitcoin (BTC) with a liquidation price of $89,018 and a $30.97 million short in Solana (SOL) at a liquidation level of $136.73. The ZEC short position remains at 4.11 million tokens, with a liquidation price of $684.55 and an unrealized loss of $10,000.

The trader's strategy has been marked by high-risk, high-leverage bets. Earlier this month, the same address faced a $2.97 million loss after being liquidated in a $120 million BTC short position during a rapid 2% price surge. The account's XRP and ZEC shorts were also liquidated, triggering a cascade of losses. Despite this, the trader has since re-entered the market, opening a 10x leveraged ZEC short with an unrealized profit of $1.4 million as of November 23.

The "Cool-headed Whale" has a history of volatile trades. In October, it liquidated a $6.89 million BTC short position and later engaged in smaller profits from day trading BTC, ETH, and XRP. The trader's capital grew from $3 million to over $30 million in two months, attracting scrutiny from analysts who note its pattern of "buying the dip" after large losses according to market analysis.

Meanwhile, broader market activity underscores the risks of leveraged shorting. A separate trader opened a $27 million XRP short with 20x leverage, coinciding with whale activity that pushed nearly 42% of XRP's supply into negative territory. Analysts warn that while Fibonacci support levels could cap near-term declines, long-term recovery hinges on ETF adoption and macroeconomic factors.

The ZEC market has also seen conflicting signals. A trader known as 0x152e closed a ZEC long position for an $846,000 loss on November 23 before reversing to a 5x leveraged short of 4,574.87 ZEC ($2.66 million) and simultaneously opening a 20x BTC long position worth $31.63 million, highlighting the sector's extreme volatility.

Despite these risks, the "Cool-headed Whale" maintains an overall profit of $4.8 million from its trading activities, though its ZEC and BTC shorts remain exposed to market swings. The trader's actions reflect a broader trend of institutional and retail players leveraging derivatives markets to bet on crypto's directional moves, even as liquidation events grow more frequent amid heightened price swings.