What is Aster (ASTER)?
Aster (ASTER) is the token of Aster, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange where users trade while keeping custody of their own assets. Aster was formed from the late 2024 merger of Astherus and APX Finance, and APX holders were able to migrate to ASTER, according to the project docs.
Aster is backed by YZi Labs, the firm formerly known as Binance Labs. The ASTER token was minted on BNB Chain at its token generation event on September 17, 2025, per project announcements, and began broad circulation from that point.
How does Aster trading work?
Aster offers two trading modes. Simple Mode provides one-click, MEV-resistant trades, while Pro Mode offers a full order book with grid trading and hidden orders that stay invisible until they fill, and users can trade both crypto perpetuals and products tied to U.S. stocks on-chain.
Aster runs on BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana and Arbitrum without bridging. Aster Chain, the project's own privacy-focused Layer 1, launched its mainnet in March 2026 according to reporting by The Block, and traders can post yield-bearing assets such as asBNB or USDF as collateral so their margin keeps earning.
What is the ASTER token supply?
ASTER has a fixed maximum supply of 8 billion tokens as of September 2026, per the Aster docs. The same docs allocate more than half of the supply to airdrops and community programs, with the rest split among the treasury, the team and liquidity.
Aster later cut new token emissions sharply and shifted rewards toward stakers, and the team also announced fee-funded buybacks and burns. The ASTER token is used for governance, staking and trading fee benefits.
What are the risks of Aster?
Aster's main selling points are CEX-grade trading tools without giving up custody, multi-chain access and collateral that earns yield. Aster has grown into one of the larger decentralized perpetual exchanges by trading volume, though it faces ongoing competition for market share.
Aster offers leverage of up to 1001x as of September 2026 per its docs, which carries a very high risk of liquidation, and smart contract flaws and regulatory uncertainty are also real risks. Aster's reported trading volume has been questioned in the past, and ASTER token unlock schedules can affect circulating supply.
