Aster Reimburses Traders After XPL Perpetual Market Anomaly
Aster, the onchain perpetuals exchange backed by YZi Labs, confirmed it has fully compensated users impacted by an abnormal price spike in its XPL/USDT market. The incident occurred late Thursday, just hours after Plasma’s mainnet debut and the launch of its XPL token.
What’s the Scoop?
- The Incident: Around 11 p.m. UTC, XPL futures on Aster spiked to more than $4, while spot markets elsewhere were trading near $1.30. The surge triggered short liquidations before the contract price reverted.
- Immediate Response: Aster posted on X that “all user funds are SAFU” and pledged to reimburse affected traders. Within an hour, the issue was resolved.
- Compensation Process: Liquidated users were repaid in USDT within three hours, with a second round of compensation later covering trading and liquidation fees. All distributions have now been completed.
- Community Speculation: Some traders attributed the anomaly to an erroneous Aster XPL/USDT price cap, which caused token prices to surge once lifted. Aster has not confirmed this explanation and says its review is ongoing.
- Unknown Losses: The total compensation amount has not been disclosed, though estimates suggest the incident ran into the millions.
We are aware of abnormal price movements on the XPL perpetual trading pair. Rest assured, all user funds are SAFU. We are conducting a full review and will compensate any affected users for losses.
— Aster (@Aster_DEX) September 25, 2025