Key Points

• Zcash rose 5% amid the squeeze on derivatives shorts
• NU7 may reduce block time to 25 seconds
• Developers will decide on whether to proceed with the mainnet activation on October 20th.

Zcash ( ZEC ) rose by about 5% on October 12, with trading prices approaching $1,280. As bearish traders faced forced liquidations, investors are also paying attention to a major blockchain upgrade scheduled for November.

This privacy-focused cryptocurrency outperformed Bitcoin and Ethereum in the recent market rebound, and derivative activities indicate that covering short positions may have driven this rise.

Meanwhile, the developers of Zcash are preparing to decide whether to proceed with the upgrade of NU7. This upgrade will reduce the block confirmation interval by two-thirds.

Zcash rose by 5% after the short liquidation.

According to the market snapshot on October 12th, ZEC has risen by about 4.8% in the past 24 hours, while Bitcoin has increased by approximately 0.9% and Ethereum by about 1.2%.

Derivative data shows that the settlement amount for ZEC is approximately $4.91 million, of which $3.87 million comes from short positions. This means that bearish bets accounted for nearly 79% of the contracts that were settled.

When a leveraged short position is forced to close, the exchange may repurchase the underlying asset, which could potentially accelerate price increases.

The open interest in Zcash also reportedly increased by 4.82%, to $2.57 billion, indicating that traders are adding to their positions rather than just closing them out.

However, an increase in leverage can also amplify losses during price reversals. A similar short squeeze occurred during the upward trend in September, and at that time, derivative positions became the main driving factor for volatility. ZEC

Zcash NU7 Upgrade target will be activated on November 5th.

In addition to today's price fluctuations, Zcash is also approaching an important technical milestone.

NU7 The upgrade was activated on the public test network on October 4th, setting the target block interval to 25 seconds, rather than the current 75 seconds.

According to Zcash Foundation, this change is aimed at reducing transaction confirmation times and improving the network's usability in terms of payments and recharging on exchanges.

NU7 also introduced a network sustainability mechanism that redirects a portion of transaction fees towards future mining rewards.

This upgrade follows closely on the previous Ironwood security update, which fixed a vulnerability that affected the infrastructure for blocking transactions in Zcash.

Developers are expected to review the performance of the test network on October 20th, and then decide whether to proceed with the mainnet activation on November 5th. This date is currently just a goal, and there is no guarantee that it will go live as scheduled.