Freshly trading since last week, ASTER is an altcoin backed by Changpeng Zhao and YZI Labs.

A decentralized exchange (DEX) operated by automated computer programs, Aster claims to provide a distributed, secure, and automated platform for both spot and perpetual futures contracts.

ASTER With a Massive Comeback

Now, talk about a god candle in crypto markets. Aster is up by over 40% in the past 24 hours, following yesterday’s slump.

Theres a clear trend here of crypto market bulls aping into decentralized exchanges with a focus on perpetual futures over the week. ASTER had its token generation event (TGE) during the previous week and it has been nothing but up since then.

Source: X In under 24 hours, Aster prices went from an initial average spot price a hair over $1.2 on 9/17 to above $2, at the time of this writing.

Aster may take its name from a genus of perennial flowering plants with a lovely violet hue native to ancient Greece and other parts of Eurasia and North America.

Aster, A Hyperliquid Killer?

Fresh on crypto market exchanges, Aster, meanwhile, brings the competition to Hyperliquid.

Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange for perpetual futures contracts, as well as for spot trading. It’s built on a special-purpose L1, and uses a tech stack for very efficient order book to manage markets.

Following a very impressive airdrop, Hyperliquid went viral after hitting the exchanges in late 2024. That was during a massive industry-wide rally over US President Donald Trump’s reelection.

To get an idea of Aster’s prospects, Hyperliquid even surpassed Ethereum and Solana in user fee revenues in August.Hyperliquid operated at a total market capitalization of $15 billion on Saturday, Sept. 23. Meanwhile, ASTER’s market cap was $3.4 billion.

However, beginning altcoin traders should be cautious: new projects that start with such a bang as Aster this week move with massive volatility and swings in either direction remain possible, if not mandatory.

That said, the “Hyperliquid killer” narrative is one that we have seen many times before in the industry. Recall that Solana was the “Ethereum killer,” and so forth. The truth is that the demand for cryptocurrency perps remains incredibly high, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a “player takes all” type of situation.