Monero Price Prediction – Will ZEC Holders Jump Ship to XMR?
There has been a significant capital rotation from Zcash (ZEC) into the rest of the privacy coin market over the past few days, triggered by the dramatic volatility that followed the unexpected resignation of its core development team.
The ZEC price has fallen by nearly 20% since the news went viral last week and is hovering around $397 at press time, as investors seek solace in other prominent privacy coins.
Among the beneficiaries of the capital rotation is Monero, a decentralized, open-source project touted for its near-untraceable transactions.
Unsurprisingly, the privacy-focused token has been one of the top performers today, surging by approximately 15% to reach an all-time high of $596 before a brief retracement.
With several price predictions from prominent analysts suggesting a strong possibility of bullish continuation, XMR appears poised for another attempt at new ATHs.
Is XMR back to being one of the best cryptos to buy? Will more ZEC holders jump ship to the coin in the coming days? The answers to these questions lie in this article.
Why is XMR Price Rising?
XMR has been one of the top crypto gainers since the beginning of 2026, already up by more than 35% from its yearly open.
At the time of writing, the token is trading at $557, having initially cleared both the 2018 and 2021 highs to attain a peak of $596 earlier today.
The token is now up 158% since its local bottom in mid-August 2025, grinding high steadily at a time when ZEC, another privacy coin, is grappling with market headwinds.
Cues from analysts suggest that the internal crisis within the ZEC development team has been the major driver behind the renewed focus on Monero, especially among privacy enthusiasts and darknet marketplace users.
What particularly positioned Monero for the ongoing capital rotation in the privacy coin market isn’t just the fact that it is the top anonymous coin – it’s that it has no centralized team like ZEC. On top of that, it offers a higher level of privacy than many of its peers, including ZEC.
As a matter of fact, XMR is so untraceable that it was delisted from major exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken in 2024 as part of regulatory compliance. But the setback did nothing to shake the conviction of investors who value financial privacy to the fullest.
Additionally, several upcoming major network milestones – Full-Chain Membership Proofs, Bulletproofs, Seraphis & Jamtis Protocols, and many more – have also contributed to the project’s upside prospects.
XMR Technical Analysis
XMR’s current price action reflects a market that has decisively transitioned from consolidation into expansion. After spending several weeks building a base below the $500 region, it pushed higher with conviction, reclaiming the $550 level and establishing $596 as a new reference point. This move suggests that buyers have regained control, supported by sustained volume rather than isolated spikes.
From a structural perspective, Monero is now trading well above its key trend indicators, reinforcing a bullish medium-term outlook. The sequence of higher lows indicates that market participants are increasingly willing to enter positions earlier, a sign of strengthening confidence. Such behavior typically emerges when an asset is perceived as undervalued relative to its narrative strength and historical positioning.
Momentum indicators further reinforce the bullish outlook, as XMR has maintained a strong upward trajectory since ZEC’s recent turbulence began to unfold, drawing renewed attention from traders and investors alike.
While short-term indicators hint at possible consolidation, these overextended readings do not signal trend exhaustion; instead, they suggest the market may pause sideways before attempting its next directional move, provided key support levels hold.
Looking ahead, the most critical technical area lies between the former resistance band around the low-$500s, which now acts as support. As long as XMR continues to hold above this region, the likelihood of a bullish continuation remains high.
All in all, Monero’s structure favors continuation over reversal, which is why it is currently among the top trending cryptos today.
Will ZEC Holders Shift to Monero?
As privacy coins return to the spotlight, market participants are once again weighing where conviction truly lies. At the center of this focus are XMR and ZEC.
Zcash is trading near $397 at the time of writing, down by 10% over the past month, owing to the sell-off that followed the unexpected resignation of its core team last week.
Prior to this incident, ZEC was at the forefront of the parabolic hype around privacy coins. In fact, at one point last year, it surged by over 2,000% in just 79 days. In contrast, XMR recorded a gain of up to 156% within 154 days.
However, that dynamic has now tilted in favor of XMR. It’s currently the only privacy coin maintaining a market cap above $10 billion, having benefitted significantly from the capital rotation from ZEC into other privacy coins.
More so, comparative charts highlight XMR as the clear winner since ZEC’s peak. Analysts view this as a structural rotation rather than a reactionary move, with further inflows expected should the uncertainty surrounding both the roadmap and development of ZEC persist.
XMR Price Prediction
There has been a palpable increase in bullish sentiment surrounding privacy coins, particularly in light of growing regulatory scrutiny.
The top project in the space, XMR, is up 31% over the past month. Once valued at $6.7 billion, the token is now trading at just over $10.2 billion, quietly reestablishing itself as one of the best privacy cryptos to buy now, especially amid ZEC’s market headwinds.
Earlier today, the Monero price breached the $580 resistance, hitting a new high at $596 before retreating slightly to $557. Another attempt to retest the ATH would likely confirm the bullish trend and result in a rally to the key $600 level.
After all, the XMR’s RSI isn’t yet in the oversold level, which signals a strong possibility of a bullish continuation. Prominent analyst YZ believes Monero is poised for a Silver-style run that could propel its price to a new high of $1000 in the near term.
Is XMR the Best Crypto to Buy in 2026?
Considering XMR’s upside prospects, fueled by capital rotation from the ZEC market and strong technicals, it appears to be an attractive investment.
However, its high market cap – $10.2 billion at press time – means limited returns for investors buying now. Therefore, those chasing anywhere between 10x and 100x returns in 2026 might find low-cap cryptos to be their golden opportunity.
Among them is Bitcoin Hyper, a high-potential Layer-2 project widely endorsed as a beta bet on Bitcoin. Since its presale debut, this project has been in high demand, raising over $30 million from whales and retail investors alike.
The whole idea is to develop a versatile Layer-2 architecture that will address all the pain points associated with Bitcoin, including slow confirmations, high fees, and lack of DeFi compatibility.
Bitcoin Hyper tackles these frustrations head-on by offering near-instant transactions, rock-bottom fees, and DeFi functionality while maintaining Bitcoin’s legendary security.
Given that Bitcoin is considered undervalued when measured against its accelerating adoption, projects like Bitcoin Hyper that solve its technical bottlenecks appear positioned for outsized growth.
Famous crypto analysts at 99Bitcoins ClayBro have extensively analyzed its post-launch potential, describing it as a prime candidate for 100x gains.
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