In short
- Monero is up 23% in the past week, while fellow privacy coin Zcash is down about the same amount.
- A Zano strategist says the differences are a result of “positioning, influence and timing” rather than a shift in demand for privacy.
- The privacy coin sector is down almost 40% this week, making Monero’s rise a major outlier.
Privacy coin Monero is up more than 23% in the past week amid a quiet Thanksgiving crypto market landscape, while Zcash is down about 25% in the same time frame.
Both privacy coins have been volatile, with Monero currently trading at $406, while Zcash is trading around $480, according to CoinGecko data.
What drives this dynamic?
The privacy coin story remains a dominant factor shaping the performance of Zcash, Monero, Dash and other related tokens. For the most part, these altcoins have remained unaffected by macro uncertainty.
The current momentum, with Zcash down double digits this week while Monero is up by the same amount, can be attributed to capital rotation within the privacy sector.
“The privacy meta is gaining popularity and both Monero and Zcash have benefited from it,” says Quinten van Welzen, head of strategy and communications at Zano. Declutter. “Short-term moves, such as Monero rising while Zcash falls, primarily reflect positioning, leverage and timing rather than a reversal in underlying demand for privacy.”
However, not all privacy coins are built equal.
The privacy coin category is down 3.8% in 24 hours and almost 40% in the past week. From a market cap perspective, Monero is the only top performer in this sector, with a gain of 4.1% on the day, while Zcash and Dash are both down 4.4% and 7.3%.
A closer look at the perpetual data shows that Monero’s recent move is mainly driven by the futures markets. The overall bid-ask delta at a depth of 10% shows continued selling pressure, while the perpetual bid-ask delta at the same depth has remained positive.
This can be confirmed by looking at the spot and perpetual cumulative volume deltas, which are the differences between the total bid and ask volumes. While spot CVD remained stable, futures CVD showed an upward trend, according to CoinGlass data.
Combined with the rising open interest, the total number of open positions, this confirms that this move was led by speculation from futures traders and not through spot buying.
Typically, a rally led by perepetuals is often considered weak, especially if there is no follow-through from spot buyers. Thus, Monero’s recent upward trend could be reversed if investors unwind their positions. This allows winnings to be converted into Zcash, Dash or other popular privacy coins.
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