ASTER rebounds after activating the Phase 6 buyback program

Aster (ASTER) starts the new week in the green after a notable rebound from the psychological level of $0.50 on Saturday. As a Perp DEX platform, Aster receives backing from strategic investors like YZi Labs and is closely integrated with the BNB Chain ecosystem. To ease supply pressure, the project officially launched its Phase 6 buyback program on Wednesday. However, ASTER’s appeal to retail investors still shows no signs of improvement, as open contracts continue to decline and the funding rate cools down. From a technical perspective, ASTER’s price chart remains mixed, with short-term recoveries moving on an unstable foundation.

Retail demand weakens despite the new buyback program

Aster is struggling to retain retail investor capital, especially as competitive pressure from Hyperliquid — a platform that recently expanded into the commodities market with HIP-3 and has ambitions to enter prediction markets through proposed HIP-4 — intensifies. To alleviate short-term selling pressure, Aster officially launched its Phase 6 buyback program on Wednesday, which also marked the final trading airdrop. Up to 80% of daily trading fees will be allocated to buybacks, with 40% automatically executed each day.

Alongside this move, Leonard — the anonymous CEO of Aster — announced that the unlocking of 1% of tokens per month will be temporarily suspended until the staking feature is officially implemented. This decision aims to reassure the community and reduce concerns about supply pressure in the near future.

In the derivatives market, data from CoinGlass shows that the open interest (OI) of ASTER futures contracts has decreased by 5.21% in 24 hours, down to $280.55 million, reflecting a shrinking scale of open positions. Meanwhile, the funding rate has dropped sharply to 0.0026% from a peak of 0.0046% the previous day, indicating weakening bullish demand.

Derivatives data for ASTER | Source: CoinGlass## Aster’s recovery faces risks as momentum remains unclear

On the 4-hour timeframe, Aster’s price continues to trade below the 50-period exponential moving average (EMA) at around $0.66, indicating a prevailing downtrend. Notably, ASTER is currently forming an ascending channel pattern in the short term after breaking below a larger upward channel on the same timeframe — a sign that the current rebound is more technical than a trend reversal.

Daily ASTER/USDT chart | Source: TradingView Momentum indicators are also signaling caution. On the 4-hour chart, the MACD is approaching the signal line after a rebound, while the histogram bars are gradually narrowing in positive territory, showing short-term bullish momentum weakening significantly. Simultaneously, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has fallen to around 48, approaching the neutral zone, implying an accumulation phase with little breakout momentum in the short term.

Regarding price scenarios, if ASTER loses the support trendline connecting the lows formed at the end of the week near $0.55, selling pressure could increase, pushing the price down toward the S1 Pivot Point at $0.45. Conversely, in a recovery scenario, the $0.60 zone — where the short-term upward trendline converges — along with the 200-period EMA at $0.66 (also coinciding with the R1 Pivot Point) — is likely to serve as a key technical barrier, limiting ASTER’s upside potential in the near future.

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