• UNI rose 18.1%, and ZEC gained 8.4% in 24 hours, leading altcoin gains.
  • Robinhood Chain's growth is driving more trading and fees on Uniswap.
  • ZEC's latest leg up followed 21Shares' launch of a Zcash ETP in Europe.

Uniswap (UNI) and Zcash (ZEC) were the top two performers among the top altcoins by market cap in early trading on Wednesday. UNI was up 18.1% in 24 hours while ZEC was up 8.4%. Both tokens outpaced Bitcoin (BTC), which remained flat over the past day.

The two rallies are driven by different factors. UNI is benefiting from growth in Robinhood Chain, where Uniswap handles most of the trading. ZEC was jolted again by 21Shares, which launched a Zcash exchange-traded product in Europe on Tuesday. Both tokens are currently testing how much leverage traders are willing to put behind them.

Traders Lean Into Both

CoinGlass data showed that the open interest for ZEC was about $2.97 billion. That’s nearly three times UNI’s $988.8 million. However, the bigger number does not mean ZEC is more crowded. UNI open interest is about 15% of its $6.4 billion market cap. ZEC's market cap is around $27.5 billion, and its open interest is about 12% of that.

Data showed ZEC futures volume at $6.69 billion over 24 hours, while UNI’s volume was $2.47 billion. $9.7 million worth of ZEC positions and $4.3 million worth of UNI positions were liquidated in that window.

Robinhood Chain Adds To Uniswap’s Moments

Uniswap’s rise follows gains in Robinhood Chain’s increased momentum. Total value locked (TVL) on the chain has been steadily rising since launch and is now just over $1 billion, according to DefiLlama. Chain fees jumped in early September but have since eased off.

That activity is making its way back to Uniswap. DefiLlama data showed that the protocol’s TVL has rebounded to around $3.9 billion from about $3 billion in August. Most fees go to liquidity vendors, and a small portion, around 7.9%, is burnt and distributed to UNI token holders.

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One Stocktwits user pointed to the exact case for Uniswap’s rise.

Institutional Demand Rises For Zcash 

On Tuesday, 21Shares launched the 21Shares Zcash ETP, which is trading under the ticker ZCASH, on Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Paris. The product is physically backed by ZEC and has a fee of 2.50%. On the same day, 21Shares listed an ether.fi ETP (ETHFI).

The firm pitched Zcash as a play on financial privacy and post-quantum security. “Zcash combines ‘Bitcoin’s capped supply with optional privacy’,” said Jasmin Muelhaupt, director of financial product development at 21Shares.

Retail Traders Turn Extremely Bullish

Bitcoin’s price was trading at $86,082 at the time of writing. On Stocktwits, Bitcoin’s price was one of the top trending tickers. Retail sentiment around BTC remained in the ‘bullish’ zone over the past day.

ZEC’s price hit an all-time high at $1,643, trading at around $1,624.87 at the time of writing. UNI’s price was trading around $10. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around both ZEC and UNI  improved to ‘extremely bullish’ from the ‘bullish’ zone over the past day.

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On Stocktwits, one user said UNI might be nearing fair value, but they expect the rally won’t be linear and anticipate dips. 

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On ZEC, one user among the few expects the token to rally to $2,000 soon. 

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