$ZEC has a whopping 5% price gap on Coinbase and Binance, and I've been scratching my head about it for the past couple of days.

Zcash has been moving some serious volume around the $600 mark, but unlike the surge after last October 11, it just hasn't broken out like we expected.

Honestly, I'm a bit puzzled. Even though I'm bullish in the long run and really want to stack more ZEC, it feels like there's some unseen force holding Zcash back despite the heavy buying pressure. I just can't put my finger on it.

One theory is that a market maker or whale scooped up tens of thousands of ZEC on Coinbase to pump the price and create the illusion that Wall Street big shots are loading up.

This would lure in more long liquidity in the futures market — meaning they'd secure enough counterparties — while at the same time, they could be shorting hundreds of thousands of ZEC on Binance.