Zcash Price Forecast: ZEC recovery coincides with ZODL founder’s new backing for ending community grants

• $1,250: Zcash edges above this level on Monday, rebounding from rising trendline support after two straight days of declines.
• Ending the block reward allocation to Zcash Community Grants has won the backing of ZODL founder Josh Swihart.
• Over $4 million flowed out of the ZEC ETF on Friday, leaving net inflows for the week at roughly $18 million.

Above $1,250, Zcash (ZEC) is extending Monday’s recovery. Josh Swihart, founder of the Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL), now backs the compromise proposal to remove the 8% block reward allocation to Zcash Community Grants (ZCG). Renewed risk appetite is emerging among institutional and retail Zcash investors. A second week of Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) inflows brought in roughly $18 million, while futures Open Interest is approaching 2 million ZEC.

In the near term, Zcash’s technical picture favours further upside towards the horizontal resistance at $1,385, a barrier that has held since 6 October.

NU7 Upgrade and Zcash Compromise Proposal Take Centre Stage

With Network Upgrade 7 set for 5 November, developments within the Zcash ecosystem could attract attention this week. Block intervals will fall from 75 seconds to 25 seconds under the upgrade, shortening transaction confirmation times. It will also disable the Sprout pool and its transactions. 

In a post on X on Monday, ZODL founder Josh Swihart said he now backs the compromise put forward by Zcash co-founders Sean Bowe and Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn. Their proposal would end Zcash Community Grants’ 8% share of block rewards and channel the funds into a "Future Dev and Legal Defense Fund" lockbox. This will prompt ZCG to donate 50,000 ZEC to the Network Sustainability Mechanism. Existing treasury funds will continue to finance ongoing grants.

Zcash Buying Interest Returns

Buying pressure has returned to the Zcash ETF over the past two weeks. Last week’s inflows totalled $17.72 million, followed by $41.09 million. Before this run, the ETF posted three consecutive weeks of outflows following the 3-for-1 stock split on 28 September. The reversal suggests that selling pressure driven by increased volume has subsided. Renewed inflows also coincide with the approaching NU7 upgrade on 5 November and a possible revision to network grants.

Among retail participants, Zcash Open Interest (OI) reached 1.99 million ZEC on Monday, compared with 1.96 million ZEC on Sunday, according to CoinGlass. OI had fallen from 2.18 million ZEC on Tuesday to 1.94 million ZEC on Saturday. Its subsequent recovery points to a gradual rebuilding of positions, reinforcing signs of renewed risk appetite.

$1,385 Resistance in Focus: Zcash Technical Outlook

At $1,257, Zcash is staging a modest recovery on Monday. The privacy coin’s short-term bias remains bullish. On the four-hour chart, an ascending trendline linking the 18 and 30 October lows near $1,215 continues to underpin the uptrend.

Buyers also appear to be defending important pivot zones on that chart: Zcash has regained the 50-period Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $1,250 and the 200-period EMA at $1,240.

On the four-hour chart, momentum is moving from bearish towards neutral. The Relative Strength Index (RSI), at 50, is rising towards its neutral midpoint. Meanwhile, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) is flat beneath both its signal line and the zero line, with histogram bars shrinking. Together, these readings suggest that pullbacks are attracting support rather than aggressive selling.

The first upside hurdle is $1,385, the 6 October high. A sustained breakout above it would open the way for a longer rally. Using the Fibonacci retracement from $1,385 to the 18 October low of $1,049, the 127.2% and 161.8% extensions, around $1,493 and $1,644 respectively, could become the next major resistance levels.

Below the market, the 50- and 200-period EMAs at $1,250 and $1,240 provide immediate support within a broader demand band. A deeper retreat would likely meet structural support around the 50% retracement at $1,205 and the ascending trendline near $1,215. Buyers could seek to re-establish the prevailing uptrend in that area.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)