Aster DEX Makes Users Whole After XPL Price Glitch Triggers Mass Liquidations

Decentralized exchange Aster DEX moves to compensate traders caught in a sudden price oracle malfunction that forced liquidations across its platform.

The Glitch That Broke the System

A technical anomaly in Aster DEX's price feed for the XPL token displayed wildly inaccurate values—triggering automated liquidation protocols that shouldn't have activated. The system mistakenly identified positions as undercollateralized, forcing sales at disadvantageous prices.

Damage Control Protocol

Aster's team initiated emergency measures within hours of detecting the anomaly, pausing affected markets and launching a transparent compensation process. The platform committed to making affected users whole—covering both principal losses and missed trading opportunities during the outage.

Oracle Vulnerabilities Exposed

The incident highlights persistent challenges in DeFi infrastructure where single-point failures can cascade through interconnected systems. While traditional finance has circuit breakers, decentralized protocols often lack centralized intervention mechanisms—creating both opportunities and risks.

Trust Through Transparency

By proactively addressing the issue rather than hiding behind 'code is law' purism, Aster demonstrates maturity in a space where users increasingly demand institutional-grade safeguards. The compensation sets precedent for responsible protocol management—though seasoned traders note it's always cheaper to prevent fires than pay for rebuilds.

TLDR

• Aster DEX experienced a price glitch that caused XPL token to spike to $4 while other exchanges showed $1.30, triggering unexpected liquidations
• The platform quickly reimbursed all affected users in USDT after the September 25 incident
• Aster’s trading volume hit a record $104 billion daily, with the platform handling $46 billion in Friday volume alone
• ASTER token dropped 14% following the incident but later recovered to $1.91
• XPL token surged 60% to $1.20 in 24 hours despite the glitch, reaching a $2.17 billion market cap

The BNB Chain derivatives exchange Aster has fully compensated traders affected by a price error in its Plasma (XPL) perpetual market on September 25. The glitch caused XPL prices to surge to nearly $4 on Aster while other venues maintained prices around $1.30.

Web3 entrepreneur Abhishek Pawa explained the issue stemmed from a misconfigured index that was hard-coded at $1. When the mark price cap was lifted before the fix was implemented, XPL futures experienced the dramatic price spike.

> Aster’s XPL perp had the index hard-coded to $1.
> The mark price was capped at ~$1.22 off that broken index.
> They lifted the cap while the config was still wrong.
> Price on Aster spiked to ~$4 (wick) while other venues stayed NEAR ~$1.3.
> Chart even stalled/stuck briefly… pic.twitter.com/Yn5LOforS4

— Abhi | AP Collective (@0xAbhiP) September 25, 2025

The sudden price discrepancy triggered unexpected liquidations and abnormal fee charges for users. Aster moved quickly to address the situation, assuring traders that all funds remained SAFE and promising full compensation for losses.

Within hours of the incident, Aster confirmed that reimbursements had been distributed to affected accounts. The platform later deployed a second round of compensation covering trading and liquidation fees.

Record Trading Volumes Drive Market Activity

Despite the technical issues, Aster maintained its rapid growth trajectory throughout the week. The platform drove overall perpetual DEX volumes to $104 billion on Friday, marking the fourth consecutive day of record daily highs.

DefiLlama data showed Aster recorded $46 billion in volume on Friday alone. This performance significantly outpaced competitors Lighter and Hyperliquid, which achieved volumes of nearly $19 billion and $17 billion respectively.

Aster’s volume surge began on Wednesday when it surpassed longtime competitor Hyperliquid with trading volume of nearly $25 billion. Current data from CoinGlass shows Aster’s open interest at $1.15 billion.

The platform’s rapid growth has drawn both praise and concern from community members. Some users expressed skepticism about the trading volumes, citing airdrop incentives as potential drivers.

Others warned traders about potential risks, urging caution during this period of high activity. Community discussions have focused on the sustainability of current trading patterns.

Token Performance Following the Incident

The ASTER token initially dropped 14% from $2.03 to $1.74 following news of the glitch. The token has since recovered to $1.91 as markets processed the platform’s quick response.

ASTER launched just over a week ago and currently ranks 36th among the top 100 cryptocurrencies with a market cap of $3.18 billion. The token’s post-airdrop success received attention from Binance founder CZ, though he later apologized for his endorsement.

XPL token performance told a different story, surging almost 60% to $1.20 over 24 hours despite the technical issues. The token achieved a market cap of $2.17 billion within less than a day of its launch.

XPL serves as the native token of Plasma, a layer-1 network optimized for stablecoins. The network offers zero-fee USDT transfers and EVM compatibility, backed by venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.

Plasma has gained traction in the DeFi ecosystem, with Ethena’s USDe lending markets on AAVE reaching their $1 billion supply caps within hours of launching on Friday.