Monero (XMR) Gains Attention, Zcash (ZEC) Faces Wild Swings, and More: Bits Recap October 23

The popular privacy coin XMR has taken center stage lately after its price surged to an eight-month high. Its biggest rival, ZEC, also posted a substantial uptick, but bears stopped the rally, and the asset remains in the red on a weekly basis. For its part, BTC slipped 1% within the same period, yet the recent whale activity suggests the price may soon head north. The token registered a double-digit price increase yesterday (October 22), surpassing $650 for the first time since January. A potential catalyst for the rally was the announcement that GUI v0.18.5.4 ‘Fluorine Fermi’ has been released. Monero’s team explained that this minor upgrade reopens testnet and stagenet wallets and includes bug fixes. Some analysts expected XMR to continue its upward trajectory, with X users Sweep and Alaoui Capital predicting an explosion to a new all-time high of $1,000. Contrary to their projections, though, the privacy coin headed south and is currently worth $605 (per CoinGecko). In fact, Dr Profit recently warned that XMR’s open interest has hit a historic high (a claim Santiment rejected) and noted that the last time OI jumped this much, the price crashed 66% in just 20 days. Zcash also performed well earlier this week and, on October 21, reached a nine-day peak above $1,360. At the time, its ascent likely followed reports that the team behind the asset plans to triple block production speed, with developers targeting November 5 for the NU7 upgrade. It also coincided with two major investors opening approximately $37 million in long positions on ZEC with 10x leverage. However, the surge was short-lived, and the token now trades near $1,200, down about 2% on a weekly basis. Meanwhile, X user Crypto With Gopal suggested bearish pressure has been building and anticipates a further plunge in the near future. He believes bears are now pushing the $1,050 neckline support on a head-and-shoulders pattern and said bulls need to defend support and reclaim $1,300+ to weaken the setup. The leading cryptocurrency looked ready to touch $85,000 on October 22, but got rejected and now hovers near $81,500. Factors that may have negatively impacted its performance include rising global geopolitical tensions and weak financial markets overall. Despite the volatility and uncertainty, whales seem reluctant to wav