ASTER Drops 20% as Anti-CZ Whale Makes $21 Million

Aster (ASTER), one of the most talked-about decentralized exchange (DEX) tokens in recent weeks, fell more than 20% in the past 24 hours, largely erasing the rally that followed Binance founder Changpeng Zhao's (CZ) endorsement.

The decline resulted in a massive profit for a trader known as the "Anti-CZ Whale," who now has over $21 million in unrealized profits from shorting ASTER across two wallets.

The decline comes after a volatile period for ASTER, which was exacerbated last week when CZ revealed that he personally purchased more than $2 million worth of the token.

CZ's post immediately sparked buying, causing ASTER to rise from around $0.91 to a high of $1.26, but this momentum quickly reversed as whales increased short exposure.

When ASTER's price fell below $0.90 following CZ's purchase, anti-CZ whales made $18.4 million.

According to on-chain data compiled by LookOnChain and Hyperliquid, two wallets associated with the so-called anti-CZ whales opened massive short positions in ASTER immediately after CZ's announcement.

The two wallets hold a combined total of over $51 million in ASTER shorts, resulting in approximately $18.4 million in unrealized profits when the token fell below $0.90.

A wallet named 0xbadb holds approximately $24.6 million in equity, with concentrated positions in ASTER and Dogecoin (DOGE).

Source: Hyperliquid

This account shows an unrealized profit of $8.38 million, primarily due to its ASTER short, which has fallen 25% from its entry price of $1.16 to $0.88.

The second wallet, 0x9eec9, holds an even larger account holding $73.7 million across multiple assets, including ASTER, DOGE, ETH, XRP, and PEPE. It has recorded unrealized profits of over $29 million, with ASTER alone contributing approximately $14 million.

Source: Hyperliquid

Both accounts maintain full short exposure using leverage between 3x and 20x, bringing the trader's total unrealized profit on Hyperliquid to approximately $100 million.

CZ admitted "wrong timing" after Aster's 57% monthly decline; analysts are expecting a technical correction.

Aster's 24-hour trading volume has fallen sharply to approximately $1.35 billion, down 47% from the previous day, indicating a slowdown in market activity after an initial rally.

Source: CoinGecko

The token, which once traded as high as $2.41, is now down more than 63% from its all-time high. It has fallen 13.3% in the past day, 17.8% over the week, and nearly 57% over the past 30 days.

According to data from Defilama, Aster's total locked value (TVL) has fallen from $2.5 billion in early October to approximately $1.47 billion.

CZ, responding to the market decline, acknowledged his history of making crypto purchases at the wrong time. He wrote on X, "Every time I buy a coin, I make a loss."