Zcash Crypto Becomes Top Weekly Gainer With Record 2026 Spot Inflows

The upper-range retest raises a critical question. Will the privacy coin maintain its uptrend and break out of the consolidation zone, or will it retreat and give in to profit-taking？

Zcash Crypto Could Lend Itself to Profit-Taking

Not only did ZEC retest its 2-month support, but it was also firmly in overbought territory. This means the chances of a retracement induced by profit-taking were notably high.

This warrants a look at the key factors driving the rally, and an assessment of key demand and supply sources. The ZEC price rally narrative was driven by optimism as the US-Iran situation entered a ceasefire.

However, most top coins only achieved single-digit gains, while Zcash crypto posted double-digit gains. Some analysts attributed ZECs performance to recent infrastructure and mining pool upgrades.

Bitcoin mining giant, Foundry Digital, is reportedly planning to create an institutional-grade mining pool for Zcash crypto.

Foundry Digital to launch Zcash crypto institutional mining pool | source: BSCN

The prospects of an institutional mining pool triggered excitement among Zcash crypto investors. This is because it validates institutional appeal. This also counteracts the uncertainty caused by the core development teams exit.

Institutional entry underscores longevity, and ZEC was already heavily discounted. While these factors have driven robust demand for the privacy coin, it is worth noting that the market has been heavily focused on short-term profit-taking amid elevated uncertainty.

ZEC Demand/Supply Dynamic Reveal This About Reversal or Extended Uptrend

Zcash spot inflows clocked $21.9 million on Tuesday. This was the same day the privacy coin posted its highest daily gain in the last 7 days.

Zcash crypto spot flows | Source: CoinGlass

The last time that ZEC daily spot inflows were this high was in December last year. In other words, the privacy coin just recorded its highest daily spot inflows on a year-to-date basis.

Whale activity revealed that a substantial amount of the spot demand in the last 24 hours came from state-side. This is because whales injected roughly $3.58 million through Coinbase. Meanwhile, Binance spot saw roughly $1.56 million worth of outflows, which may signal profit-taking.

On the derivatives side of things, whales executed roughly $197 million worth of net outflows on Binance and OKX futures. This suggests that a substantial number of whales expect a reversal from the current ZEC price levels.

Overall net inflows in the last 24 hours were still in favor of the bulls by just over $1.12 million. However, this may signal a lack of enough follow-up demand to maintain the strong uptrend. Meanwhile, whale activity suggests elevated reversal expectations.

Whether the market will continue to rally depends on how market dynamics unfold over the next few days. Whether the ceasefire between Iran and the US will be enough to boost market confidence.