Aster, the decentralized exchange (DEX) that has gained traction in recent weeks, is facing mounting scrutiny and a rocky start to October.
It follows the DEX’s move to acknowledge inconsistencies in its Team Boost dashboard data alongside accusations of inflating trading volumes.
Aster Price Drops 15% Amid Data Discrepancy Concerns
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The controversy has coincided with a sharp sell-off in the ASTER token, which fell almost 16% in the last 24 hours. As of this writing, ASTER was trading for $1.57.
The move left some traders liquidated, but others continue to hold out hope, anticipating a break above a crucial resistance trendline.
The drop comes as Aster DEX admitted to discrepancies in the personal dashboards of Stage 2 users during Epoch 3.
“These issues may have been related to how the mechanism was presented and described, which could have caused some confusion,” the team wrote.
It concerns the Aster Genesis program, DEX’s initiative to distribute 4% of the ASTER token supply via an airdrop and reward users for trading and referrals.
Stage 2 began earlier in 2025 and is in its final phase with two epochs left, ending on October 5, 2025, at 23:59 UTC. Epoch 3 is the current weekly cycle (Monday 00:00 UTC to Sunday 23:59 UTC), making this issue timely as users maximize Rh points for the airdrop.
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The Team Boost Mechanism feature allows users to earn up to a 1.5x multiplier on Rh points based on their referral team’s cumulative trading volume.
The inconsistency suggests a display error or a calculation flaw, impacting perceived rewards. With Stage 2 nearing its end and ASTER’s recent 6,000% surge, accurate data is critical for users farming points and trading leveraged positions.
Aster assured users that fixes are underway and adjustments are expected to be completed soon. Notwithstanding, other users expressed dissatisfaction with the project and called for more transparency.
The community has voiced deeper concerns, with some users questioning the validity of Aster’s reported trading activity. Among them, a user noted that the project had claimed $560 billion in volume between September 22 and 28 during Epoch 3.
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“This number does not match Dune or DefiLama, so please take all my numbers with a grain of salt, as ASTER is clearly comfortable with manipulating RH as they please,” he wrote.
These allegations strike at the heart of Aster’s ongoing airdrop campaign, which has been a key driver of user participation.
Inflated figures could undermine trust in the reward system’s fairness, especially as some users report losing significant funds during the latest price drop. Nevertheless, Binance executive Changpeng Zhao sees the drop as a shakeout for weak hands.
Despite the sharp decline, neither Aster’s team nor the DEX’s CEO, Leonard (likely a pseudonym), has directly addressed the accusations of volume manipulation or wash trading.
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Meanwhile, the ASTER/USDT trading pair shows that the ASTER price may be preparing for a bullish move.
On the one-hour timeframe, the Aster price has been consolidating within a falling wedge pattern since September 24. This is a bullish reversal pattern in technical analysis. It hints at a 24% upside if the ASTER price exceeds $1.8078.
Based on the bullish volume profiles (blue horizontal bars), ASTER bulls wait to interact with the price upon breakout, potentially accentuating the 24% rally to the $2.2657 target objective.
However, based on the bearish volume profiles (yellow horizontal bars), the $1.9814 resistance level is critical, with a lot of bears also waiting to interact with ASTER price around that level.
However, the RSI (Relative Strength Index) indicator position below 50 is concerning. Despite its higher highs suggesting growing momentum, its position below 50 hints that bears continue to overpower the bulls.
Accordingly, the resistance at $1.6972 may hold, and the ASTER price is likely to be rejected at this level. Such a move could extend the consolidation, potentially setting another lower low for the DEX token around the $1.4000 psychological level.