Zcash OI Hits $2.92B as $20.9M of Shorts Were Liquidated

Zcash is trading at $1,505.92 with total open interest near $2.92B, up 0.5% over 24 hours even as one-hour OI slipped 1.2%. The immediate structure is defined by crowded shorts: $20.9M of short positions were liquidated over the past day, compared with $4.8M in longs. Market coverage has recently emphasized Zcash's rally and growing interest in institutional products.

OI is concentrated but not uniformly expanding

Binance carries the largest share of ZEC OI at $738.4M, or 25.3% of the tracked total, with its position base up 0.8% over 24 hours. Bybit follows with $306.8M and a 10.5% share, while OKX holds $209.3M and 7.2%. Their daily changes are modest at 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively, but all three recorded four-hour contractions: Binance fell 4.6%, OKX 2.6%, and Bybit 2.6%.

The stronger expansion is occurring on smaller venues. Bitget's $181.5M OI rose 5.2% over 24 hours, while Gate's $59.7M increased 6.5%. This split matters for price structure: the largest pools are reducing short-term leverage, while smaller venues are adding exposure. Aggregate OI therefore looks stable on a daily view, but the four-hour pullback across the leading venues suggests that some leverage has already been flushed.

Funding is positive, while accounts stay net short

The funding rate average is 0.004116%, a positive reading that indicates longs are paying shorts overall, but the venue spread is unusually wide. Binance is at 0.006%, Bybit at 0.010%, Bitget at 0.009%, and Gate at 0.010%. CoinEx is the outlier on the positive side at 0.077%, while Bitfinex is negative at -0.078% and WhiteBIT is also negative at -0.020%.

That funding profile does not match the account distribution cleanly. The aggregate account split is 36.5% long versus 63.6% short, while the aggregate taker split is 39.1% long versus 60.9% short. Binance accounts are 32.6% long and 67.4% short, and OKX is even more defensive at 29.1% long against 70.9% short. Bybit and Bitget are less extreme, but still short-heavy at 43.6% long and 56.4% short on both venues.

The gap between account positioning and active flow is most visible on Binance: takers are nearly balanced at 49.3% long and 50.7% short despite the much more bearish account base. On OKX, takers are 47.8% long and 52.2% short. Gate is the exception, with takers at 20.2% long and 79.8% short. The message is that passive positioning is heavily short, but aggressive flow is not uniformly pressing that view.

Liquidation map favors an upside squeeze

Short liquidations accelerated through the longer windows. In the last hour, longs lost $504.0K versus $99.9K for shorts. Over four hours, the split was $1.4M long liquidations against $180.3K short liquidations. The balance reversed over 12 hours, with $4.0M in shorts liquidated against $3.2M in longs, and widened sharply over 24 hours to $20.9M shorts versus $4.8M longs.

The largest recorded events cluster above the current price. A Binance short liquidation occurred at $1,589.63 for $1.2M, while OKX short liquidations appeared at $1,528.82 for $428.1K and $1,574.37 for $236.2K. Another Binance short was liquidated at $1,557.72 for $274.7K. The notable long liquidation was at $1,564.68 for $234.7K, showing that leverage is not one-sided at every level, even though the aggregate 24-hour damage favors shorts.

Verdict

The structure remains squeeze-prone rather than cleanly bullish: OI is holding near $2.92B, account positioning is short-heavy, and the liquidation ladder begins around $1,528.82 before reaching $1,589.63. A sustained move above $1,528.82 with OI remaining near $2.92B would favor further short covering; the view is invalidated if price loses $1,505.92 while aggregate OI rises above $2.92B, signaling fresh leverage entering a downside break. Data as of 01:05 Beijing time on Sep 20, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.