ZEC +1080.79% in 1 Year Amid $59M Institutional Investment and Short Position Risk

Generated by AI AgentAinvest Crypto Movers RadarReviewed byAInvest News Editorial Team
Sunday, Nov 16, 2025 4:31 pm ET1min read
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Aime RobotAime Summary

- ZEC surged 1080.79% in 1 year despite 0.95% 24-hour drop, showing strong long-term growth amid short-term volatility.

- A $20M ZEC short position faces liquidation risk at $1,084, with whale averaging down on 5x leverage after a $5M margin boost.

- $59M institutional investment in Zcash (ZEC) highlights growing institutional interest in privacy-focused crypto amid bullish technical indicators.

- Analysts debate ZEC's privacy advantages vs. Bitcoin's Lightning Network, while backtests aim to assess sustainability of its historic 1080.79% annual gains.

On NOV 16 2025,

ZEC
dropped by 0.95% within 24 hours to reach $677.12, but over the 7-day, 1-month, and 1-year timeframes, it gained 49.88%, 64.21%, and 1080.79%, respectively. These figures underline a dramatic long-term price appreciation despite recent short-term volatility.

A $20 million unrealized loss now looms for the largest short position on ZEC held on Hyperliquid, as the whale continues to average down on a 5x leveraged short initiated on October 11. The position, opened at $360, faces a liquidation price of $1,084 and is supported by a recent $5 million USDC margin top-up. This strategy reflects a bearish conviction amid a sharp uptrend, with the short-side whale also maintaining a 15x leveraged ETH short, currently showing a $7 million unrealized gain.

Separately, Zcash (ZEC) has attracted institutional attention, with Winklevoss Capital and Leap Therapeutics (now Cypherpunk Technologies) making a $59 million investment. This marks a significant development for the privacy-focused cryptocurrency, which has also opened voting for its Q4 2025 Coinholder-Directed Grants Program. The program will remain open until November 25 at 11:59 PM UTC, inviting community input on funding proposals.

Analysts project that institutional investment, coupled with Zcash’s focus on privacy and growing adoption, could further support upward

momentum
. However, Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3, has advised retail investors to prioritize
Bitcoin
over ZEC for privacy use cases, citing the Lightning Network’s growing capabilities.

Backtest Hypothesis

To evaluate the potential performance of ZEC during high-magnitude price movements, a backtest could simulate the behavior of the asset around events where the 1-year return exceeded +1080.79%. Given ZEC’s recent history, this scenario occurred between 2022 and 2025. A robust backtesting strategy would involve identifying all such historical events and analyzing the average post-event performance over a defined window.

Key parameters for the backtest include:

  1. Trading Pair / Exchange: Defaulting to ZEC-USDT on Binance (daily closes), unless specified otherwise.
  2. Event Definition: Backtesting will focus on each instance where ZEC’s 1-year return exceeded +1080.79%, treating each as a distinct event.
  3. Evaluation Window: Measuring performance from 5 days before each event to 60 trading days after, to capture both pre- and post-event sentiment and price behavior.

By isolating the market impact of these rare and large price surges, the backtest could provide insight into whether such events are followed by continued outperformance, or whether they trigger profit-taking or bearish corrections. This approach aligns with ZEC’s recent technical setup, which includes both bullish institutional inflows and bearish leveraged short positions.