ASTER Plunges 75% to Record Lows as Hyperliquid Surges Ahead — Is the Perpetual DEX Battle Already Decided?

Another day, another altcoin gets its wings clipped. The perpetual futures DEX arena just witnessed a brutal shakeout, with one contender getting left in the dust.

The Ticker-Tape Tumble

ASTER, a token tied to a decentralized perpetual exchange, didn't just dip—it cratered. A staggering 75% collapse from its previous highs sent it spiraling to all-time lows. That's not a correction; that's a market verdict.

Hyperliquid Takes the Pole Position

While one project flounders, another accelerates. Hyperliquid has decisively pulled ahead in the race for liquidity and user mindshare. The narrative is shifting from a crowded field to a potential winner-take-most dynamic. It turns out, in the high-stakes world of perps, traders have little patience for also-rans—they flock to where the action is.

Decentralized, But Not Immune

This episode underscores a harsh truth for DeFi maximalists: decentralization doesn't magically inoculate a project from classic, cutthroat market forces. You can build the most elegant protocol, but if you lose the liquidity war, you're just elegant code on an empty blockchain. It's the crypto version of 'build it and they will come' meeting the reality of 'build it better, faster, and with more incentives, or get rekt.'

The race for perp DEX dominance is far from over, but the peloton is thinning. One player's dramatic implosion serves as a stark reminder: in this game, there are no participation trophies, only the cold, hard math of the order book.

Hyperliquid Pulls Ahead as ASTER Selloff Deepens

At the time of writing, ASTER was trading around $0.62, down more than 13% over the past 24 hours. The decline follows weeks of sustained weakness, with the token down over 11% in the last seven days and nearly 74% below its all-time high of $2.41.

Trading activity surged during the selloff, with 24-hour volume jumping more than 300% to over $300 million, pointing to heightened short-term positioning rather than a recovery in confidence.

Data from DefiLlama shows that the overall activity in the sector continues to explode, with cumulative perp volume exceeding $803 billion over 30 days.

Total perp trading volume over the past 24 hours stood near $19.9 billion, while open interest reached about $20.6 billion.

Market data shows Hyperliquid pulling further ahead in both trading volume and open interest, two metrics that traders tend to treat differently.

Over the past seven days, Hyperliquid processed about $40.7 billion in perpetual futures volume, according to figures compiled from CryptoRank and DefiLlama.

That compared with roughly $31.7 billion on Aster and $25.3 billion on Lighter over the same period.

Hyperliquid reclaims the perps throne

As Lighter’s airdrop is distributed, the platform’s volumes have started to fade – weekly volume has decreased nearly 3x from its peak.@HyperliquidX has captured the lead and is now ranked 1st by volume and open interest.@variational_io… pic.twitter.com/LChbSdaU8a

The divergence becomes more pronounced when looking at open interest, which reflects where traders are willing to keep Leveraged positions open rather than simply rotate trades.

Hyperliquid recorded about $9.57 billion in open interest over the past 24 hours, exceeding the combined $7.34 billion held across rival platforms, including Aster, Lighter, Variational, edgeX, and Paradex.

The widening gap suggests traders are increasingly using Hyperliquid as a primary venue to hold leveraged positions, rather than simply rotating capital in search of short-term incentives.

The shift has become more apparent as reward-driven activity cools across the sector.

Buybacks Roll Out as Unlocks Cloud Perp DEX Outlook

Lighter, which saw a surge in trading ahead of its airdrop late last year, has experienced a sharp slowdown since the distribution, with weekly volumes falling significantly from their December highs.

Also, the LIT token has dropped to new lows, losing more than a third of its value over the past month as a significant share of airdropped tokens moved into the market.

In an effort to support its token, Aster recently activated what it calls a Strategic Buyback Reserve.

We're now actively deploying our Strategic Buyback Reserve for $ASTER token repurchases automatically.

Building on our Stage 5 Buyback Program announced last month, this activation allocates 20-40% of daily platform fees into targeted buybacks, responding dynamically to market… https://t.co/cIbles9eHM

The program builds on a broader buyback framework announced in December, under which up to 80% of daily fees can be directed to automatic and discretionary buybacks, all executed on-chain.

However, the scale of upcoming token unlocks remains a central concern for the market.

Aster has significant token unlocks scheduled through 2026, including quarterly releases of roughly 183 million ASTER in January and April, followed by additional large releases mid-year and ongoing monthly emissions.

Although the team previously delayed unlocks to build utility and reduce near-term pressure, the scale of upcoming supply has become a focal point for traders assessing downside risk.

While incentive-driven activity has cooled across the sector, Hyperliquid has continued to attract capital even as its token, HYPE, has weakened alongside the broader market.