DeFiLlama has removed the perpetual futures data of Aster DEX due to allegations of abnormal trading volumes.
The review of the analytics platform revealed that the reporting of Aster was almost identical to that of Binance in terms of trading activity, which raises doubts about the nature of the data and the potential for volume manipulation.
The trade trends of Binance and the Ethereum trade showed almost the same behavior as the trade patterns of Aster across the pairs, such as the XRPUSDT and ETHUSDT, according to DeFiLlama co-founder 0xngmi. The team recommended that Aster might have inflated its trading volumes to appeal to users. The DEX does not offer lower-level trade data, such as information on how orders are executed, so DeFiLlama has chosen to delist the Aster perpetual futures until the site can confirm that trading is real.
The analytics hub reiterated its zero-tolerance policy for suspicious or unverifiable data. Other members of the community suggested that the data on Aster be left in place and a warning sign put on it, but 0xngmi dismissed this suggestion as likely to skew the overall picture of the derivatives market.
This ruling has divided the crypto community. Some traders accuse Aster of figure manipulation, but others consider the move a new strategy in liquidity management. The controversy produced by Tech influencer TechLead termed the controversy as being overly bullish on Aster, indicating that if the DEX were able to integrate Binance liquidity into its operations, it would redefine how decentralized and centralized platforms work.
Aster was also introduced in September and soon became a possible competitor of Hyperliquid. According to previous DeFiLlama statistics, its open interest increased by more than 33,500% last week, with the amount of perpetual trades in a single day reaching 60 billion. Market analyst Marcell forecasted that the token of Aster would increase by 480% to hit $10. Still, analysts postulated that this would be a more minor increase of 35% in October as crypto markets continue to gain momentum.
Market Jitters and Airdrop Concerns
The atmosphere around Aster had already increased even before the relocation of DeFiLlama. The DEX has recently settled traders in its XPL perpetual contract due to an abnormal price movement, as stock prices surged momentarily to more than four times their previous value of $1.30. Aster promised users that they had not lost their money and paid off affected traders in a few hours, at least in the short term, reassuring the users.
New concerns have arisen, however, with the next Genesis Stage 2 airdrop by Aster. The trading activity reassured that the rewards will unlock fully, and holders will be able to sell instantly. As 4% of the total supply will be issued, analysts advise that the absence of vesting will create significant selling pressure, potentially pushing the price below $1.
The delisting of Aster perpetual futures by DeFiLlama has increased criticism of the transparency and trading integrity on the DEX. Although the platform’s approaches are viewed as dubious by some, they are considered innovative in their approach to integrating liquidity and data. As long as Aster cannot show any trading numbers that can be verified, its numbers will not appear on the charts of DeFiLlama, and the community is split, with the project being closely monitored.
