Differentiated competition in perpetual DEX, can Aster become a challenger to Hyperliquid?

Written by: Deep Tide TechFlow

On September 17, Aster completed its TGE, and the $ASTER token's performance on its first day exceeded market expectations.

Data shows that within less than 24 hours of its launch, the total trading volume of the token surpassed $310 million, with over 330,000 new independent wallet addresses created. The opening price was $0.03015, reaching a daily high of $0.528, with a single-day increase of approximately 1650%. The platform's TVL also surged from $350 million to $1 billion.

This kind of start is indeed eye-catching.

A product is considered useful and has users, which forms the basic foundation for DEXs after an airdrop, and also determines whether a project has income for buybacks, thereby further enhancing the value of the token.

A more fundamental question worth exploring is: When Hyperliquid has already occupied half of the perpetual DEX market with the route of "performance is justice" and its monthly trading volume has surpassed 330 billion USD, do similar products in this space have other paths to take?

Some product details of Aster are addressing this question.

In June of this year, Binance founder CZ raised an intriguing question on social media: "If you were to buy $1 billion worth of tokens, you wouldn't want others to see it before the order is completed." He candidly stated that perpetual DEXs need a "dark pool" feature.

Aster has chosen this "privacy-first" route. As a perpetual DEX formed by the merger of Astherus and APX Finance, supported by YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), Aster has not followed the performance race of Hyperliquid, but instead focuses on addressing another pain point:

In the transparent world of blockchain, how can large traders avoid the cost of being "seen"?

When a leader in a race has become so strong, should the followers chase on the same path, or forge a completely new one?

Aster's choices may provide some inspiration.

Aster's Product Password: Find Your Position in the Perpetual DEX

Product Functionality Overview: Designed for Different Traders

To understand Aster's product design, one must start with its dual-mode architecture. The platform precisely serves two completely different user groups.

Simple Mode is aimed at traders who pursue speed and a more degenerate strategy.

One-click ordering, automatic MEV protection, and that hard-to-ignore 1001x leverage. While Hyperliquid offers 50x and most CEXs provide 100-125x leverage, Aster has taken the numbers straight into four digits. This seems aggressive, but it indeed targets a specific user group.

On the other hand, Pro Mode is the territory of professional traders.

Here you have a complete order book depth, professional charting tools, grid trading, and of course, the Hidden Orders mentioned above. At the same time, the platform's fee structure is also quite competitive:

According to public information, Aster's Maker fee rate is 0.010%, and the Taker fee rate is 0.035%, while Hyperliquid's rates are 0.015%/0.045%. Although the differences may seem minor, for high-frequency traders, these basis point differences can lead to significant cost variations after a large number of trades.

Cross-chain capability is another noteworthy feature. Aster supports more than 7 chains, including BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum, allowing users to switch without the need for cross-chain bridging. As of September, the platform's TVL has also reached $360 million, indicating a degree of market recognition.

It is particularly worth mentioning the perpetual contract feature for US stocks. Aster offers 24/7 trading for multiple US blue-chip stocks such as Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia, fully settled in cryptocurrency.

USDF: Let idle margin earn interest

In addition to innovations in trading functions, Aster's innovations in capital efficiency are also noteworthy. In traditional perpetual trading, USDT or USDC used as margin just sit idly in the account, generating no returns. However, in Aster, users can choose to use USDF as margin.

What is USDF? In simple terms, it is a delta-neutral yield-bearing stablecoin issued by Lista DAO, which generates returns by investing underlying assets into low-risk DeFi protocols.

As an important part of the BNB Chain ecosystem, USDF not only provides users with stable returns but also further strengthens the stability of the on-chain TVL.

According to the platform's latest data, the APY for depositing USDF has reached 4.5%, while the APY for using USDF has even reached about 12.2%. This yield is quite considerable in the current market environment.

It is worth noting that in order to encourage the use of USDF, Aster provides a 20x points bonus for USDF holders in its airdrop points system. Meanwhile, the Trade & Earn program stipulates that each account can have a maximum of 100,000 USDF participating in trading reward calculations, which encourages adoption while preventing large holders from monopolizing the reward pool.

Hidden Orders: Privacy option for large traders

After understanding Aster's overall product layout and capital efficiency innovations, let's look at another differentiated feature, Hidden Orders.

In November last year, well-known trader James Wynn established a long position worth over $100 million on the Hyperliquid platform, and this massive position was fully exposed on the public order book.

Other traders quickly noticed this "big fish" and began to target his positions. By collaboratively manipulating the price, they successfully triggered a series of liquidations, and Wynn ultimately lost over $20 million in paper profits.

For institutions and whales that need to execute large transactions, "being seen" often means additional costs.

Aster's Hidden Orders feature is based on zero-knowledge proof technology, providing a solution. When traders choose hidden orders in Aster Pro mode, the order information is encrypted through ZK circuits, and only the matching engine can verify the validity of the orders without knowing the specific content. The orders maintain price-time priority but are completely invisible until executed.

This means they can execute large trading strategies on the DEX without worrying about being front-run or maliciously targeted. Traders who value privacy now have a new option.

A few strong players dominate the DEX market, uniqueness is very important

If 2024 is the year of the explosive growth of perpetual DEX, then 2025 is the key moment when the landscape is initially determined.

According to the annual report previously published by dYdX, the trading volume of DEX derivatives is expected to grow by 132% in 2024, reaching $1.5 trillion, and is projected to reach $3.48 trillion for the entire year of 2025. This growth rate far exceeds that of spot DEX and has also prompted CEX to start taking this emerging force seriously.

In a rapidly growing market, different platforms have chosen different development paths.

But Hyperliquid is undoubtedly the brightest star. Aster has chosen a completely different path, addressing another pain point: trading privacy.

This choice is backed by clear market insights. Users of perpetual DEX can be roughly divided into three categories: retail speculators who focus on leverage and fees, professional traders who value execution quality and tools, and institutions and whales who care most about privacy and market depth. Hyperliquid serves the first two categories well, but the needs of the third category still seem to be inadequately met.

According to DefiLlama's data, Aster's trading volume in the past 30 days was approximately $16.7 billion, and more importantly, there is a growth trend.

Aster set a record of 34 billion dollars in monthly trading volume in June 2025, with a cumulative trading volume exceeding 517 billion dollars. Such trading volume has firmly placed Aster in the top tier of perpetual DEXs. Considering it only completed its rebranding in March this year, this growth rate is quite impressive.

From this perspective, Aster's privacy approach is not to replace Hyperliquid, but to create a new niche market. When the market is large enough, platforms with different positioning can find their place based on their own features. Just like today's CEX market, Binance, Coinbase, and OKX each have their strengths, serving different user groups.

BNB Chain Ecosystem Collaboration, Aster is not a Lone Ranger

In the crypto world, "who invested in you" is often as important as "what you do."

For Aster, the support from YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs) is not only a token of trust but may also determine its future development trajectory.

In March of this year, when Astherus and APX Finance announced their merger to become Aster, the endorsement from YZi Labs quickly gained market recognition for this "new" brand. After all, in the DeFi world filled with various "innovations", projects with strong backing are more likely to gain user trust.

The more practical value may lie in the potential sharing of ecological resources.

Although YZi Labs has been operating independently, most of its team members come from Binance Labs, and their understanding of the Binance ecosystem and network connections have not disappeared. This soft connection may play a role at critical moments, such as when seeking liquidity support or ecosystem cooperation.

If Hyperliquid has chosen an independent development path, not accepting VC investment and not blooming in multiple other public chain ecosystems; then Aster has clearly taken the path of ecological collaboration.

According to public information, Aster has established partnerships with core projects of the BNB Chain ecosystem such as PancakeSwap, Trust Wallet, and SafePal.

The collaboration with PancakeSwap is particularly noteworthy. As the largest DEX on the BNB Chain, PancakeSwap has billions of dollars in liquidity. Although the specific liquidity sharing mechanism has not been publicly disclosed, this collaboration at least implies the potential interoperability of user bases. For PancakeSwap users looking to try perpetual trading, Aster would be a natural choice.

The integration of Trust Wallet and SafePal addresses another issue: user access. These two wallets have tens of millions of users globally, and direct integration means that these users can seamlessly access Aster within the wallet. This convenience should not be underestimated compared to having to access a DEX via a separate website.

The most interesting aspect might be the collaboration with Four.meme. Four.meme is a meme coin launch platform on the BNB Chain, and Aster is working with it to capture the highly active group of meme coin traders. Considering that meme coin traders often prefer high-leverage speculation, the match for this user profile is very high.

From the above information, it is clear that the logic of the Aster alliance strategy is very straightforward: in the world of DeFi, liquidity is the most scarce resource. Rather than building from scratch, it is better to quickly gain initial liquidity and a user base through collaboration. While this means sharing part of the profits, it can significantly reduce the difficulty of cold starts.

Another potentially overlooked topic is the previous merger of Aster.

Zero-knowledge proofs are theoretically beautiful, but their implementation in practical applications, especially in high-frequency trading environments, requires strong engineering capabilities. This is why, despite ZK technology being discussed for many years, there are still few cases of large-scale application in DEX.

Aster's technical accumulation largely comes from mergers. According to official data, Astherus and APX Finance processed over $258 billion in transaction volume before their merger. This integration of experience, along with the support from YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), provides Aster with a unique development advantage.

Overall, the support from YZi Labs not only means funding but also the potential resources of the entire Binance ecosystem. The integration with platforms like PancakeSwap and Trust Wallet allows Aster to quickly establish a liquidity network, which is precisely one of the biggest challenges faced by most new DEXs.

It is worth noting that this complete ecological collaboration is not unique to Aster.

Other perpetual DEXs are also seeking support from their respective ecosystems. Jupiter has the Solana ecosystem, while the previous Vertex had support from Arbitrum. This ecosystem alignment may become a new dimension in the competition among perpetual DEXs:

It's not just a competition of products and technology, but also a contest of the ecological resources behind them.

Breaking Through

Aster's opportunity lies in not trying to become the "next Hyperliquid", but rather the first Aster. The market for on-chain DEX is large enough to accommodate players with different positioning.

The key lies in the execution capability within the limited time window that follows.

First of all, the Hidden Orders feature needs to be genuinely adopted by institutions. This requires not only technical perfection but also market education and trust building.

Secondly, the synergy with the Binance ecosystem needs to be realized. Although the official confirmation states that $ASTER will be listed on "major exchanges," the market widely expects it to land on Binance. Considering the background of YZi Labs, if this really happens, whether through direct listing or forms such as Launchpool, it will be a significant positive.

First of all, the actual value of the Hidden Orders feature needs to be verified in real transactions. Currently, an increasing number of institutional traders are beginning to pay attention to the possibilities of on-chain privacy protection. If Aster can provide stable and efficient hidden order execution, it will naturally attract these users.

Secondly, the value of ecological collaboration needs to be truly released.

The portfolio synergy of YZi Labs, liquidity sharing with PancakeSwap, and user entry integration with Trust Wallet - if these resources can be effectively activated, they will create a strong network effect.

The confirmation of $ASTER's listing on major exchanges is just the beginning; more importantly, it is how to translate these ecological advantages into actual user growth and an increase in trading volume.

Timing is also very important. With the acceleration of institutionalization in the cryptocurrency market, the demand for professional trading tools is increasing. If Aster can establish a foothold during this window period and build its own user base, it will have the opportunity to occupy a place in the perpetual DEX market.

Ultimately, Aster's success may lie in proving that the perpetual DEX market can accommodate multiple models.

The market will provide the answer. In the multiple trade-offs between transparency and privacy, performance and functionality, as well as centralized and decentralized options, different choices will attract different users. Hyperliquid has proven the feasibility of the performance route, and now it is Aster's turn to validate the value of its own route.

Regardless of the outcome, the competition itself is victory. It drives innovation, provides users with more choices, and enriches the entire ecosystem. Perhaps this is the most charming aspect of DeFi:

There are always new possibilities, and there are always people trying different paths.

Source: Deep Tide TechFlow