Bitcoin (BTC) is 72.4× the size of Zcash (ZEC) by market capitalisation. Over the past 1 year, ZEC is ahead by 208.3 percentage points (BTC -27.3% against ZEC +181.0%). Their daily returns move loosely together (correlation 0.44 across 399 shared trading days). ZEC has been the more volatile of the two, at 149% annualised against BTC's 44%.
BTCZEC
0.44over 399 shared trading days
Measured on daily returns rather than on prices. Two assets that both simply trend upward score near 1.0 on raw prices whether or not they move together, so returns are what answer the question people mean by correlation.
| Metric | BTC | ZEC |
|---|---|---|
| Max drawdown (400d) | -53.0% | -71.8% |
| Risk-adjusted return (90d) | 0.51 | 1.06 |
| Best 30 days (past year) | +26.8% | +188.2% |
| Worst 30 days (past year) | -32.9% | -59.2% |
Relative strength over 90 days: ZEC outperformed BTC by 49.7% — measured on the BTC/ZEC ratio, so it holds regardless of market direction.