In Thursday's Asian morning session, Zcash experienced a significant increase of over 17%, reaching nearly $1,358, making it the top performer among major cryptocurrencies, according to CoinDesk data.
Other cryptocurrencies saw modest gains as well, with Solana and Hyperliquid each rising approximately 3%, while BNB, Dogecoin, and Ether increased by about 2%. Bitcoin saw a slight uptick of 1%, trading just above $76,400, and XRP mirrored this gain, while Tron remained unchanged.
The Federal Reserve announced a quarter-point increase in its target range on Wednesday, raising it to 375 to 400 basis points. This marked the first rate hike of the current cycle, which markets had anticipated with a 69% probability. Following this news, Bitcoin's price remained relatively stable. Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro, noted in an email that Bitcoin had already reacted negatively to the recent Senate failure of the CLARITY Act, reducing its vulnerability to a stronger dollar.
In a 24-hour period, approximately 86,816 traders were liquidated, resulting in a total of $345 million in losses, according to CoinGlass. Liquidation occurs when exchanges forcibly close leveraged positions due to insufficient collateral to cover losses. Of the total liquidations, shorts accounted for $208 million while longs made up $137 million, indicating that most losses were suffered by those betting on price declines.
Leading the liquidations were Ether with nearly $89 million, followed by Bitcoin at $85 million and Zcash at $56 million. The largest individual liquidation involved an $18 million Bitcoin position that was closed on Hyperliquid.
With Zcash contributing $56 million in liquidations against a market cap of $23 billion, market observers are keen to see if leverage will be rebuilt throughout Thursday, as it has been a driving force behind the recent price movements.