This ASTER Whale Is About to Get Liquidated Again?

A whale wallet identified as 0x5f91 has opened a new 5x leveraged long position on Aster DEX, accumulating 3.86 million $ASTER tokens with a notional value of roughly $2.61 million. The move comes shortly after the same address suffered a complete wipeout, raising fresh questions about whether history is about to repeat itself.

A Costly Re-Entry

The wallet's previous position was considerably larger. The trader had held a 5x leveraged long on 5.33 million $ASTER, valued at approximately $3.97 million, which was fully liquidated during a sharp market pullback, resulting in a loss of $530,600. Rather than stepping away, the address has returned with a scaled-back but still highly leveraged bet on the same token.

High-leverage positions on $ASTER carry well-documented risks. Leverage turns small price moves into large account swings, and with 5x exposure, even a modest correction can push a position past its liquidation threshold before a trader can react.

The Tokenomics Backdrop

The aggressive re-entry follows a significant protocol update. Aster DEX announced a sweeping tokenomics upgrade on June 17, 2026, directing 99% of daily platform fees into automatic $ASTER buybacks for veASTER stakers while triggering matching burns to slash total supply toward 3 billion.

This dual action, buyback and burn, is set to continue biweekly until the total token supply shrinks from 8 billion to 3 billion. Notably, the burn sequence starts with the team's own holdings, and in an environment where insider allocations often survive untouched, Aster is putting its treasury on the line first.

The protocol has already completed over $214 million in cumulative buybacks, reclaiming more than 143.38 million ASTER (7.11% of supply) in under a month. The latest upgrade escalates that commitment further. The 198% mechanism (99% buyback plus 99% equivalent burn) creates a self-reinforcing loop: higher platform usage drives stronger buy pressure and accelerated deflation.

Whether the tokenomics upgrade can sustain upward price momentum, and spare the whale from another liquidation, remains to be seen. The speed of the supply reduction depends on daily fee generation, and Aster has not disclosed its full fee revenue history, so the timeline remains unclear.

Sources:
BeInCrypto: Aster Expands its Token Buyback Program, Price Jumps 10%
CryptoNews: Aster Crypto Explodes, Buyback and Burn News Sends Hyperliquid Rival Up 10%
Blockchain Reporter: Aster Overhauls ASTER Tokenomics, 99% of Fees to Buybacks, Supply Cut to 3B