TLDR
- Aster reimburses traders after XPL glitch causes forced liquidations
- XPL surge glitch hits Aster; traders fully repaid in swift USDT refunds
- Aster resolves XPL price spike error, compensates all affected traders
- XPL token glitch triggers liquidations, Aster restores user confidence
- Aster repays losses after XPL price misfire during Plasma blockchain debut
Aster has fully reimbursed traders affected by an abnormal price surge in XPL, the native token of the Plasma blockchain. The decentralized perpetuals exchange confirmed all liquidations triggered by the glitch in the XPL/USDT market have been compensated. The issue occurred during a rapid transition from pre-launch testing to live trading of the XPL perpetual contract.
XPL Glitch Triggers Liquidations, Aster Executes Reimbursements
The incident took place on Thursday around 11 p.m. UTC when the XPL price spiked from $1.30 to over $4 on Aster. This price surge did not reflect market conditions on other platforms, where XPL remained stable around $1.30. The spike led to multiple forced liquidations and fee charges for users holding leveraged positions.
Aster promptly paused trading and initiated a review while assuring users that funds remained secure throughout the event. Within one hour, the exchange confirmed the glitch was resolved and began calculating user losses in USDT. Compensation was completed within three hours, followed by an additional payout covering trading and liquidation fees.
According to community members and analysts, the root cause appeared to stem from a misconfiguration left over from pre-launch settings. During testing, Aster had hardcoded XPL’s index price at $1 and capped the mark price to prevent volatility. When these controls were removed without syncing to real-time market feeds, the system mispriced XPL, causing widespread liquidations.
XPL Market Launch Coincides With Plasma Mainnet Debut
The XPL contract went live just hours after the launch of Plasma, a stablecoin-focused Layer 1 blockchain. Plasma debuted with over $2 billion in stablecoin liquidity, placing it in the top 10 blockchains by that metric. XPL, as its native token, quickly reached a fully diluted valuation exceeding $12 billion.
The listing on Aster allowed users to trade XPL perpetual contracts with leverage, which fueled heavy activity. However, the transition from pre-launch to active trading lacked synchronization safeguards, contributing to the sharp, short-lived price spike. Though Aster has not confirmed full technical details, it continues to investigate the failure.
Aster’s prompt reimbursement and transparency helped stabilize user confidence in the platform. Traders impacted by the XPL incident received direct wallet transfers in USDT, minimizing prolonged exposure to risk. The exchange emphasized that no funds were lost due to internal errors.
Aster Leads Perpetual DEX Market as Volumes Hit Record Highs
Aster recorded a surge in perpetual trading volume, surpassing $46 billion on Friday. This figure accounted for nearly half of the $104 billion daily total across all decentralized perpetuals exchanges. Aster outperformed rivals Hyperliquid and Lighter, which reported $19 billion and $17 billion in volume, respectively.
The platform’s trading growth coincided with an aggressive incentive farming strategy, rewarding users for activity with eligibility for future airdrops. Aster’s hidden orders feature, which enables invisible limit orders, has also attracted significant interest. The tool distinguishes Aster from other DEXs where full order book visibility is standard.
Since launching its ASTER token on September 17, the platform’s valuation jumped from $560 million to over $15 billion. Aster’s dominance in the perpetuals space continues to grow, even as it navigates technical challenges like the recent XPL glitch. The exchange has committed to improved safeguards ahead of future market launches.
