While Bitcoin and most major cryptocurrencies have been stuck in a tight trading range near 63,500, one altcoin has been quietly outperforming the entire market: Monero (XMR), the privacy-focused cryptocurrency that many exchanges have delisted in recent years, is up more than 11 percent over the past week and trading around 404, according to CoinDesk market data. That makes it one of the few altcoins consistently beating Bitcoin in August 2026, even as the broader crypto market capitalization has slipped to approximately 2.18 trillion.
By Carlos Martinez | August 14, 2026
The Hook: Privacy Coins Are Back in Fashion
For months, the cryptocurrency narrative has been dominated by Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, institutional adoption, and regulatory clarity. Privacy coins — cryptocurrencies designed to keep transaction details hidden — were largely left for dead after major exchanges like Binance and Kraken delisted them under regulatory pressure. But Monero’s recent price action suggests the market is rediscovering an appetite for financial privacy.
According to CoinDesk data, XMR has gained approximately 3.2 percent in just the last 24 hours and more than 11 percent over the past seven days, trading near 404 at the time of writing. That performance stands in stark contrast to the broader altcoin market, where major names like Cardano (ADA) and Avalanche (AVAX) are seeing heavy bearish positioning in futures markets, with funding rates of negative 10 percent or worse.
On-Chain Evidence: What the Derivatives Market Reveals
The derivatives market tells an interesting story about where traders think altcoins are heading. CoinDesk’s market analysis highlights that both ADA and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) are seeing funding rates of negative 10 percent or lower on perpetual futures contracts — a strong signal that traders are aggressively betting against them. ADA’s open interest remains just below a recent record high of 2.79 billion tokens, suggesting traders are adding fresh short exposure rather than simply closing existing positions.
Meanwhile, XRP futures open interest sits at 2.67 billion tokens — the highest since October — for a third consecutive day. However, the cumulative volume delta remains negative, meaning more bearish bets are being executed at market prices than bullish ones. This combination of high open interest and negative flow creates what traders call a “short squeeze” setup: if enough bulls push the price up, forced liquidations of short positions could trigger a sharp rally.
Against this backdrop of bearish positioning across major altcoins, Monero’s steady climb becomes even more notable. It suggests that capital is not just leaving the crypto market — some of it is rotating into assets that offer something different: untraceable transactions and financial privacy.
The Core Conflict: Regulation vs. Privacy Demand
Monero’s outperformance raises a provocative question: why is a coin that has been systematically removed from major exchanges suddenly attracting buyers? The answer may lie in a growing tension between regulatory surveillance and user demand for privacy.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently postponed its long-awaited proposal for crypto market structure rules, known as Regulation Crypto, canceling a meeting without setting a new date. This regulatory uncertainty has left investors guessing about the future of privacy-focused projects. Yet the market appears to be voting with its wallet — and the vote is in favor of privacy.
At the same time, Zcash (ZEC), another privacy coin, has been gaining institutional attention through its Tachyon upgrade, which aims to scale shielded payments and improve quantum resistance. The fact that two privacy coins are simultaneously outperforming suggests this is not a fluke — it is a trend.
Market Implications: What This Means for Altcoin Investors
For regular investors, Monero’s rally offers several important takeaways:
- Diversification matters — The coins getting all the headlines (Bitcoin, XRP, Solana) are not the only ones making moves. Sometimes the best performers are the ones flying under the radar.
- Narratives shift quickly — Six months ago, the story was all about ETF flows and institutional adoption. Today, privacy is creeping back into the conversation. Investors who pay attention to these narrative shifts can position themselves ahead of the crowd.
- Bearish positioning can be a contrarian signal — When funding rates go deeply negative (as they have for ADA and BCH), it often means the selling is overdone. Many traders view extreme bearish positioning as a potential precursor to a bounce.
- Implied volatility is near yearly lows — Options markets for Bitcoin and Ether show some of the lowest implied volatility readings of the year, suggesting traders do not expect a big move soon. That calm could be the perfect environment for alternative narratives — like privacy coins — to gain traction.
It is also worth noting that someone placed a large bullish bet on Bitcoin itself this week, buying call options at the 65,500 strike for August 15 expiry and paying over 1 million in premium. This is an ultra-short-term bullish wager that suggests at least some sophisticated traders expect Bitcoin to break out of its range within days.
The Verdict: Should You Care About Monero’s Rally?
If you are a regular investor with a portfolio of major cryptocurrencies, Monero’s 11 percent weekly gain is a reminder that the crypto market is far more diverse than the top-10 lists suggest. Privacy coins occupy a unique niche — they are simultaneously the most regulated and the most in-demand assets during periods of uncertainty.
However, Monero remains a high-risk investment. It trades on fewer exchanges than most major altcoins, making it harder to buy and sell. Its liquidity is lower than Bitcoin or Ethereum, meaning price swings can be more violent. And regulatory action could further restrict access at any time.
The broader lesson is simpler: in a market where Bitcoin is stuck and altcoin futures traders are aggressively short, capital will find alternative homes. Sometimes those homes are unexpected — like a privacy coin that most exchanges have tried to forget. Whether Monero’s rally has staying power or is a temporary rotation remains to be seen. But for now, it is the altcoin that nobody is talking about — and that is exactly what makes it interesting.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry risk; always do your own research.
XMR doing numbers while everyone obsesses over spot ETFs. classic. the second you delist something people actually want, it finds a way to pump anyway
^ every time. they delist it for compliance points and turn it into a scarcity event. 11 percent week while btc chops around 63.5k
Binance and Kraken delisted XMR and it still outperformed BTC this week. Almost like the market disagrees with the compliance teams.
@Kjell the delistings basically killed liquidity on tier 1 exchanges though. XMR volume is a fraction of what it was in 2021. pump on low volume is a different animal
liquidity didnt die it moved. atomic swaps and dex pairs picked up the slack, xmr at 404 on venues most people cant even name
agreed on swaps carrying the flow, but exit liquidity on those pairs is paper thin. the 404 price is real until you try to move size and the book vanishes
can confirm, moved mid five figures through a swap pair last month and ate almost 3 percent. xmr liquidity was never deep, the venues just changed
slippage_goblin_ 3 percent on mid five figures tracks. the book depth lives on two or three venues now, the 404 print is a retail size print not an institutional one
two venues carrying the whole book and people point at the 404 print like institutional validation lol. its three market makers and a swap service
thin books cut both ways. the same liquidity that makes an 11 percent climb effortless makes the exit a cliff, ask anyone who sold size into this
exitcliff_ the exit cliff is real but xmr holders are a different breed. most would rather eat 3% slippage on a privacy asset than hold something transparent. the demand is inelastic by design
inelastic demand is the right frame. the people who need xmr cant substitute, delistings moved the price 10 percent for a week and then nothing
the 2024 delistings knocked xmr down hard for about a week before it fully recovered. you can delist a coin, you cant delist demand
that ADA funding rate at negative 10 percent is gonna squeeze so many shorts. seen this setup before, never ends well for the bears
2.79 billion ADA open interest with negative funding. yeah that is a ticking bomb, not a bearish signal lol
XMR doing 11% while BTC does nothing is classic. Privacy coins always pump when regulatory pressure eases. The delistings actually made the remaining markets more decentralized lol.
title says nobody is talking about it and this is the third xmr piece on my feed today lol. the pump is real, the secrecy is not
lol the coverage IS the pump at this point. every finance site running the same monero up 11 percent story while claiming it’s undiscovered
headline_reader the nobody is talking about it genre is bait at this point. xmr up 11 and every desk runs the same monero rediscovery piece with the same 404 chart
the irony of delistings creating scarcity is lost on compliance teams. xmr up 11 percent while everything else sleeps at 63.5k
xmr quietly doing 11 percent while total market cap slipped to 2.18 trillion. the only green in my portfolio this week and it’s the coin compliance teams love to hate
compliance teams spent three years squeezing xmr off tier 1 venues and the coin still out here beating btc on a flat week. someone should write the memo on how that worked out
XMR at 404 in a dead market. every privacy pump in history lined up with a surveillance headline cycle and i would bet this one did too
there was an eu data retention committee vote the same week, the pattern held again. privacy pumps are basically a calendar event now
404 while btc chops near 63.5k. the one coin every compliance officer wants gone is the only green on my screen, dont even know what to do with that