Aster News Today: Whale's $52M ASTER Short Turns Profit as Volatility and Liquidation Risks Collide

A whale has executed a high-stakes short position on ASTER, leveraging 3x to bet against the token's price, with the trade valued at approximately $52.94 million. According to HyperInsight monitoring, the whale shorted 42.966 million ASTER tokens at an entry price of $1.208, setting a liquidation price of $1.8085. While the position initially faced an unrealized loss of $1.1 million, recent market movements have turned the trade into a $1.2 million unrealized profit, according to a LookOnChain report. The whale's strategy appears aggressive, with additional short positions in DOGE, ETH, XRP, and PEPE, and a total unrealized profit across these trades reaching $7.86 million, the LookOnChain report noted.

The ASTER short was part of a broader trend in leveraged trading, highlighted by the launch of pre-market perpetual contracts for Monad (MON) on Solana-based DEX Pacifica, which supports up to 3x leverage, as reported in a Coinotag article. Pacifica, founded in January 2025 by former FTX COO Constance Wang, has rapidly scaled, reporting $28 billion in 30-day trading volume and $57 million in open interest, according to a LookOnChain post. The platform's focus on scalable liquidity and risk controls aligns with the growing demand for leveraged products in decentralized markets, the Coinotag article added.

The whale's ASTER trade also reflects heightened volatility in the crypto space. The position was initiated four days before a significant price event—likely referencing Binance CEO CZ's public commentary on ASTER—and expanded with an additional 24.41 million tokens after CZ's remarks, the LookOnChain report says. This timing suggests the whale capitalized on sentiment shifts, a common tactic in leveraged shorting strategies.

While the ASTER short remains exposed to liquidation risks if the token's price surges past $1.8085, the whale's diversified short portfolio and strategic timing indicate a calculated approach. Meanwhile, platforms like Pacifica are enabling such high-leverage trades, potentially amplifying market swings as institutional and retail traders adopt similar tactics, the LookOnChain post noted.