What could drive it: - Rotation/hedge narrative: When risk …

What could drive it:
- Rotation/hedge narrative: When risk or surveillance headlines hit (KYC crackdowns, chain analytics news, sanctions), traders sometimes treat privacy coins as a tactical hedge. If that coincides with BTC weakness, you’ll see relative outperformance.
- Quant pairs activity: Market‑neutral desks often run “alts vs BTC” baskets. In drawdowns, they may buy a privacy basket (ZEC/XMR/DASH) while shorting BTC to keep USD beta contained. Thin books mean small flows can move prices.
- Perp dynamics and squeezes: Privacy perps are less liquid. During broad deleveraging, skewed positioning can get squeezed upward even as majors trend down.
- Quote effects: On venues where alts are quoted in BTC, sudden BTC repricing can temporarily make an alt’s USD print look strong or less weak.