Aster
Non-custodial perp DEX running on its own Aster Chain L1 and other chains, with perps on crypto, stocks and commodities plus spot.
Security record: 2 incidents · 2 own fault · 1 repaid in full- Runs on Aster Chain, its own L1 with 50 ms blocks and zero gas fees
- Perps on crypto, stocks and commodities plus spot, from a self-custody account
- Orders are encrypted until execution; optional Account Privacy hides balances and positions
- Pro perps: 0% maker, 0.04% taker on main crypto pairs and 0.0125% taker on RWA pairs
- 1001x mode: up to 1001x on BTC/USD, 250x on ETH/USD
Seven criteria on a scale of 10, the fee and market numbers computed from the data. Compare it with other perp DEXs only. How we score
- Taker
- 0.04%
- Maker
- 0%
- Volume a day
- $1.5B
- Open interest
- $1.4B
- Rewards 8.0
- ASTER live; weekly Trade & Earn, Grid mining in ASTER and WLFI, USD1 RWA Boost pool
- Taker fee 4.9
- No taker fee is a 10, 0.07% or more is a 1. A venue that earns from the spread tops out at 7.
- Volume 8.4
- Average a day: $5M is a 1, $5B is a 10, on a log scale. Volume past ten times open interest does not count.
- Safety 4.0
- No audit of the perp engine; Sep 2025 XPL mispricing losses repaid
- Open interest 10.0
- $1M is a 1, $1B is a 10, on a log scale. Harder to farm than volume.
- Ease 10.0
- iOS and Android apps, zero gas on Aster Chain, 600+ markets with stocks
- Access 8.0
- No KYC or invite; closed to US, Canada, UK, China, Russia, Ukraine
- Open asterdex.com and click Launch App
- Pick a chain and connect Rabby, MetaMask, Binance Wallet or a WalletConnect wallet
- Sign the request to finish connecting
- Click Deposit and fund your Aster account
- Open a perp in Pro, Shield or 1001x mode
- Optional: use USDF or asBNB as margin with Multi-Asset Mode for Trade & Earn rewards
- USD1 RWA Boost: Phase 1125M WLFI + 6.25M USD1Ends Dec 31, 2026
- Grid 2.0 Liquidity Pool MiningEach week: 10,000 ASTER on USDT pairs and 130,000 WLFI on USD1 pairs, for four weeks from Oct 26
- Trade & Earn (weekly USDF rewards)
- Funding Rate Arbitrage Between Perp DEXs: The Real MathA cross-DEX funding hedge earns by the hour and pays its fees up front. How to work out the net, the break-even time and what can break each leg.
- Maker vs Taker Fees on Perp DEXs: What a Trade Really CostsMaker and taker fees explained for farmers: why the fee is charged on the position, why a hedge pays four times, and when a maker order costs more.
- What Is a Funding Rate on a Perp DEX?What a perp funding rate is, who pays whom, how to turn it into a yearly figure, and what it costs or pays a farmer who holds positions for volume.
Very high leverage puts the liquidation price close to entry, and at 500x and above profit is capped. Losses, funding and fees can leave a negative balance that must be cleared before you withdraw. Aster can amend or cancel its reward programs at its discretion.
2 incidents · 2 own fault · 1 repaid in full
Past incidents 2
XPL perp price glitch to $4 liquidates traders. A misconfiguration in Aster's XPL perpetual (index hard-coded near $1 and a mark price cap removed before the index was fixed) sent the price to nearly $4 while other venues traded near $1.30, liquidating positions. Aster said user funds were safe and reimbursed affected traders in USDT, plus fees in a second round. Aster reimbursed liquidated traders in USDT within hours and refunded trading and liquidation fees in a second round, per The Block and Cointelegraph.
Own faultRepaid in full
Sources: theblock.co, cointelegraph.com
ApolloX withdrawal contract drained via signature bug. An attacker abused a flaw in the signature check of ApolloX (Aster's predecessor, later APX Finance) and withdrew about 53 million APX from its withdrawal contract, then swapped them on PancakeSwap. The APX token fell about 60%. ApolloX said there was no loss of user funds and bought back about 12.7M APX to cover the protocol's loss.
Own faultNo user losses
Sources: tokeninsight.com, certik.com, cryptoslate.com
From the project’s statements and security coverage. Own fault means the project’s code, servers or keys; third party means a vendor, registrar, oracle or issuer it relies on.
