Aster (ASTER) is rising, becoming a highly regarded decentralized perpetual exchange (perp DEX) in the crypto market. It offers an easy-to-use interface for beginners while providing advanced features for professional traders. As a new generation decentralized exchange, Aster supports spot andperpetual contract tradingaims to create a global one-stop on-chain trading platform. The features of Aster exchange include its unique cross-chain trading capability, MEV protection mechanism, and comprehensive trading tools. The development trajectory of Aster can be traced back to ApolloX, established in 2021, which initially adopted a hybrid architecture of “off-chain matching + on-chain settlement”, aiming to combine the smooth experience of centralized exchanges with the asset self-control advantages of decentralized finance. Compared to traditional perpetual contract DEX platforms, Aster’s core feature is “transaction logic fully on-chain”—all steps from user order placement to trade execution are completed on-chain, significantly enhancing trading transparency and security, effectively avoiding the risk of fund misappropriation that centralized exchanges may face, and providing users with a truly trustless trading environment.
Gate has chosen to partner with Aster and launch it on its platform, reflecting Gate’s strategic vision for the future of decentralized finance. In recent years, the derivatives DEX sector has developed rapidly, with a market capitalization exceeding $2 billion, accounting for approximately 7.9% of the total DeFi market cap. Although the derivatives trading market is currently dominated by centralized exchanges, with DEX only accounting for 3% of total trading volume, the arrival of events like DeFi Summer and FTX has ushered in a period of rapid development for perpetual contract DEX platforms. The launch of Aster on the Gate exchange is a strategic move that aligns with this development trend. In terms of competitive landscape, data shows that nearly 90% of on-chain derivatives trading occurs on Layer 2, and the performance of order book DEXs significantly surpasses that of liquidity pool types. Although dYdX holds a market cap of $339 million, representing one-third of the total market cap for derivatives DEXs, Aster is rapidly rising due to its innovative technical architecture and user-friendly interface. Gate’s choice of Aster as an important component of its DEX market layout demonstrates its recognition of the potential for future decentralized perpetual contract trading development, as well as reflecting Gate’s strategic direction of “financial borderlessness.”
Aster offers traders extremely flexible leverage trading options, supporting up to 1001x leverage, far exceeding other similar platforms. This powerful feature enables professional traders to execute high-risk, high-reward strategy operations. Compared to other perpetual contract DEX platforms in the market, Aster’s leverage advantage is significant:
Platform Name | Maximum leverage multiplier | Features |
---|---|---|
Aster | 1001 times | Cross-chain trading, full-chain logic |
Ostium | 200 times | Based on Arbitrum |
other DEX platforms | 10-125 times | More often adopt a hybrid architecture |
When trading on Aster, users can flexibly choose the leverage multiplier and adjust it according to their risk preferences. For example, when trading with 50x leverage, users only need to invest 1/50 of the actual trading amount as margin. The specific calculation formula is:
Margin Required = Transaction Amount / Leverage Ratio
for trading 10,000 USDTBTCTaking perpetual contracts as an example, when using 50x leverage:
Required margin = 10,000 USDT / 50 = 200 USDT
This means that users only need to invest 200 USDT to control a position worth 10,000 USDT. In addition to high leverage trading, Aster also offers a comprehensive range of order types, including limit orders, market orders, stop-limit orders, etc., to meet the needs of different trading strategies. Aster’s interface design balances ease of use for beginners with the advanced feature requirements of professional traders, allowing users to easily view real-time market depth, price trends, and position information to make precise trading decisions. The security of Aster’s decentralized exchange is reflected in the execution of trading logic on the entire chain, avoiding the single point of failure risk of centralized points, while integrating an MEV protection mechanism to effectively prevent front-running and other market manipulation behaviors.
On the Aster platform, the fee structure is an important factor that traders need to pay close attention to. Aster’s fee revenue analysis shows that it adopts a more transparent charging mechanism. Compared to traditional centralized exchanges, Aster’s fees are directly used for ecosystem construction and user rewards. Traditional derivatives DEXs usually need to distribute part of the trading fees to liquidity providers (LPs) or pay interest to attract deposits, while Aster has optimized this model, providing users with a more attractive revenue distribution mechanism. When using the platform, users need to consider costs primarily including trading fees, borrowing fees, and potential cross-chain transfer fees. Trading fees are usually calculated as a percentage of the transaction amount:
Transaction Fee = Transaction Amount × Fee Rate Percentage
For example, if Aster’s base trading fee rate is 0.1%, then a contract trading 10,000 USDT will generate:
10,000 USDT × 0.1% = 10 USDT fee
Aster also provides liquidity mining opportunities, allowing users to earn additional rewards by providing liquidity. Similar to the GLP pool model of GMX, Aster’s liquidity pool includes various mainstream tokens such as USDC and BTC, supporting users’ contract trading needs. When users go long on Bitcoin, it is equivalent to “renting” Bitcoin from the pool; when going short, it is equivalent to renting stablecoins. This mechanism enables the liquidity pool to earn fees for the protocol, and the earnings will be distributed to stakers. Users participating in liquidity mining can not only earn a share of trading fees but also have the opportunity to receive ASTER token rewards, thereby sharing in the platform’s long-term growth value.