Is CZ backing Aster to block Hyperliquid’s rise?

🔥 Hot Trend: PERP DEX

Back in 2022, the crypto world watched one of its biggest dramas unfold. FTX, once seen as an unstoppable exchange, collapsed almost overnight. And at the center of that storm was Binance’s CZ.

A single tweet from him announcing plans to sell FTT tokens sent shockwaves through the market. Confidence evaporated, liquidity dried up, and within days, FTX was gone. It became the textbook example of how fragile trust is in crypto, and how quickly power can shift when a giant makes a move.

Now fast forward to today, and the whispers around Aster sound strangely familiar. Just like FTX back then, Hyperliquid is seen as one of the dominant players in its lane. But some traders are starting to suggest that Aster’s rapid rise to challenge Hyperliquid.

Suspicions of Binance and OKX being involved in a manipulation attempt against Hyperliquid. The token JELLY was heavily shorted, dropping nearly 80% and putting Hyperliquid’s market-making system at risk of losing over $12 million.

At the same time, Binance and OKX announced listings of JELLY perpetual futures, fueling speculation that this was a coordinated move to attack Hyperliquid. On-chain investigations further showed that wallets behind the manipulation had previously received funds from Binance, OKX, and other exchanges. In the end, Hyperliquid reacted quickly by delisting JELLY and closing risky positions, which helped it avoid a total collapse.

The question is:

Are these moves aimed at taking down Hyperliquid dominance?

Is Binance trying to take a piece of the Perp decentralized exchange pie?

My answer is Yes, it really is the case. Just look at Aster’s liquidity and trading volume over the past 30 days, it has surged more than 200%, making the Perp DEX market more active than ever. More importantly, it has overtaken $HYPE.X ( ▲ 11.94% ) to claim the #1 spot in Perp DEX volume, hitting over $330B in the last 7 days, more than 4× Hyperliquid’s $72B.

This also seems to be fueling the narrative and trend around derivatives and futures products on DEXs. The market share “pie” has already been divided, but the big players won’t just sit and watch. Trust me, this pie will see plenty of disputes, and no position is ever guaranteed.

Major exchanges like MEXC, Bybit, and HTX have already started launching their own Perp DEX tokens, and this competition and drama is far from over. We’ll have to wait and see what happens next, but let’s bring it back to the main focus: ASTER.

🌍 Fundamental Analysis (Macro Focus)

Overview

$ASTER.X ( ▼ 7.84% ) has been making noise recently in the decentralized exchange (DEX) ecosystem. Unlike many smaller competitors, Aster is positioning itself as a next-gen liquidity hub. The biggest update is its push into cross-chain liquidity aggregation, which directly challenges Uniswap, Curve, and ThorChain.

Normally, if you want to swap tokens on Ethereum, then on Solana or BNB Chain, you’d have to use separate DEXs on each chain. With cross-chain liquidity aggregation, the system connects and pools liquidity across chains. You trade through one interface, while the bridging and swapping happen automatically in the background.

DEX Volume

To understand where Aster stands, you need to zoom out. The macro environment for decentralized exchanges is both bullish and competitive. In the past 30 days, total decentralized exchange volume has reached $487B, with a healthy +18.68% weekly increase.

This shows that activity across decentralized exchanges is not slowing down, in fact, it’s picking up, suggesting renewed capital flow into on-chain trading. The monthly chart also highlights that volumes are approaching levels last seen at the peak of 2021–2022, a clear sign of momentum returning to DeFi markets..

Against this backdrop, Aster is starting to stand out. It currently ranks #15 among all decentralized exchanges, posting a 24h trading volume of $181M and a 30-day volume of $5.3B. That’s already a meaningful footprint, especially considering how recently Aster was launched compared to many of its established competitors.

Tokenomics

Out of the total 8 billion supply, more than half (53.5%) is being given away through airdrops. That’s massive compared to most projects, and it shows they’re really trying to get tokens into as many hands as possible to build hype and adoption fast.

Another 30% has been set aside for ecosystem and community growth, so they’ve clearly left a big pool for partnerships, incentives, and expansion. The team only keeps 5%, which is actually small, so you don’t have to worry too much about heavy insider selling. They also reserved 4.5% for liquidity and listings.

And about the airdrop itself, it’s not just free money for random people. To claim, you either had to earn points in their Aster Spectra program, get Aster Gems from community or partner events, or have traded on Aster Pro. Plus, 704 million tokens (8.8% of supply) will unlock immediately at launch.

That’s a huge chunk, but it also means we might see some heavy selling early on. And that’s no longer a major concern, since the market has already priced it in - the sharp initial drop has passed, and the price has recovered strongly afterward.

Overall, the setup feels very “community-first”, and they want active users and traders holding $ASTER.X ( ▼ 7.84% ) , not just people waiting to dump.

Community

ASTER keeps encouraging community engagement through programs like Aster Genesis, where tokens are rewarded to users with the highest Rh scores. Naturally, that also helps create liquidity for the project.

And honestly, I’m pretty sure the comments I saw were from real users. There were lots of memes mixed in, lol. After being on X for a while, you kind of develop a sense for it, these felt authentic, and the post interactions were huge.

Just look at their Telegram group: the engagement is insanely high. Even if someone tried to buy bots or pay for marketing packages, you can’t get more than 5.3K real discussions.

I also double-checked using Telemetrio, and there were no warnings about user-buying or cheating in their community. Of course, that tool isn’t 100% perfect, but compared to other projects I’ve checked, ASTER’s community looks relatively safe and organic.

In short: Aster’s fundamentals look strong for a new decentralized exchange. It’s positioning itself as a cross-chain liquidity hub, already hitting $5.3B in 30-day volume and ranking #15 among DEXs. The tokenomics are community-first, with over half the supply airdropped and only 5% to the team, reducing insider risk. Combined with its fast growth and organic community, Aster shows real potential to scale further in DeFi.

📊 Technical Analysis

Looking at Aster’s chart, we can see a pretty classic accumulation pattern. After peaking around $1.88, $ASTER corrected sharply down to the $1.30 area before bouncing back. That drop helped reset the market and gave room for new buyers to step in.

Right now, ASTER is trading in a tight range between $1.80 and $2.15. Every time the price tests $2.10–$2.15, bull side steps in and push it back down. This resistance zone is clearly important. If ASTER can break through $2.05–$2.15 with strong volume, the path opens for a move toward $2.40 and possibly even $2.60.

The key thing here is which side of the range will break first. $2.15 remains the breakout point to watch, while $1.70 - $1.80 is the support level to defend. Until one of those levels gives way, the price is likely to keep chopping sideways in this zone, building energy for the next big move.

We also see that ASTER ran up to $2.43 before pulling back inside a downward channel. Right now the price is sitting near the top of that channel, which often signals a potential breakout. If buyers push it above $2.00 with volume, the next leg higher could aim for $2.40 and beyond. That area could even offer a potential entry point if the $2.00 breakout is confirmed.

At the same time, the Fibonacci retracement shows how well the $1.70–$1.75 area has been holding as support. That’s the 0.382 level, and losing it would be a warning sign that the pullback isn’t finished. For now, though, the setup looks like ASTER is gearing up for another move upward. If the breakout confirms, momentum could return quickly.

🧠 Sentiment Analysis

Now let’s talk about the vibe around Aster.

Looking at the indicators, we can see that aside from the Oscillators, everything else is flashing strong buy signals. This paints a picture of a market leaning heavily toward optimism. Part of this sentiment comes from the strong belief that ASTER will continue to be pushed upward to defeat Hyperliquid $HYPE.X ( ▲ 11.94% ) .

Add to that the fact that we’re moving into the later stages of the current bullish cycle, and it’s no surprise that capital inflows are expected to keep growing.

For ASTER to realistically surpass Hyperliquid, currently one of the largest decentralized exchange with a market cap north of $15B, it would need to increase its own market cap by nearly five times. Right now, ASTER is valued at just over $3B.

What’s impressive is that in the last 90 days alone, ASTER has ranked among the top tokens in terms of buying activity, skyrocketing more than 2,213%. If momentum continues and investor sentiment holds, the upside potential being discussed is going to be true. Some are even projecting another 5,000% gain or more if ASTER truly meets (or exceeds) HYPE.

🎯 Entry Points & Targets Price

Medium-term ASTER Prediction (Q4 2025): $4.00-$14.00

Long-term ASTER Prediction (More than 1 year): $50 in line with bullish institutional forecasts.

🔑 Key Takeaways

Aster is quickly turning into the loudest name in Perp trading. Liquidity has surged more than 200% in 30 days, and with $330B in weekly volume, it has already overtaken Hyperliquid by a wide margin. The fundamentals lean community-first, and sentiment is heating up fast.

The playbook I’d suggest:

• Watch the $2.00–$2.15 range closely → breakout here could open $2.40 → $4.00.

• Keep exposure light but active; Aster’s volatility cuts both ways.

• The narrative alone could push ASTER higher, but no position in Perp DEX land is ever fully “safe.”