Aster price rose sharply after Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao disclosed buying 2.09 million ASTER tokens, worth roughly $2 million, at around $0.91 per token on Nov. 2.
Summary
- Aster jumped over 30% after CZ disclosed a $2M personal buy, driving a sharp volume spike.
- Whale traders have since opened large short positions, betting on a near-term pullback.
- Technical signals show weakening momentum, with resistance near $1.25 and support at $0.98.
The token experienced a brief 35% surge, peaking at $1.26, before a slight decline. As of this writing, Aster was trading at $1.05, up 9% over the previous day. The token is still down 10% over the past seven days and 50% over the past month.
As a result of the move, Aster’s (ASTER) market capitalization surpassed $2.5 billion, and its daily trading volume surged 862% to $2.29 billion, indicating a sudden surge in market activity. According to Coinglass’s derivatives data, open interest rose 42.9% to $640.5 million, suggesting an increase in leveraged positions.
CZ’s purchase sparks rally but whales bet against Aster
CZ described his investment as a personal “buy and hold” move, sparking optimism among retail traders. The long-to-short ratio on Binance hit 1.9 overall, showing retail dominance. But in response, a number of big traders took large short positions on Hyperliquid (HYPE), placing bets on a price reversal.
One wallet opened a $25 million short at $1.18, later expanding to about $51 million with 3x leverage, while another added $18 million in shorts. These whale bets suggest skepticism about Aster’s sustainability following the sharp pump.
Analysts pointed out that there had previously been concerns raised about Aster’s trading data, including a brief delisting from DefiLlama due to volume verification problems. Combined with market volatility and Binance-linked sentiment swings, this could make the rally fragile in the near term.
Aster price technical analysis
Aster’s one-hour chart shows that the bullish momentum is waning after the post-announcement spike. A brief correction phase is suggested by the price’s consolidation below the middle Bollinger Band, which is at about $1.11. The upper band at $1.34 marks immediate resistance, while the lower band near $0.88 represents short-term support.
The relative strength index cooled to 46 from 80 earlier in the day, indicating that overbought conditions have cooled. While the histogram is narrowing, suggesting waning bullish pressure, the MACD line is still slightly above the signal line, indicating a mild buy signal.
All major moving averages, from 10-day to 200-day, are still above the current price, confirming that despite the recent upswing, Aster is still in a wider downward trend. The simple moving average is at $1.29 and the exponential moving average is at about $1.15, forming immediate resistance zones.
If buyers manage to push above $1.25, liquidation clusters could trigger a short squeeze toward $1.35–$1.40. On the downside, Aster might be vulnerable to another correction towards $0.88–$0.90, where higher demand has previously surfaced, if support at $0.98 is lost.
