Aster DEX is attempting to reshape its market narrative through aggressive liquidity incentives and a reduction on the supply side. On May 7 at 10:00 UTC, Aster officially announced the launch of the AGTUSDT perpetual contract and simultaneously kicked off a trading reward campaign with a total of $50,000 worth of ASTER, aimed at rapidly boosting the on-chain liquidity of this trading pair by distributing the prize pool based on trading fee contribution ratio before May 14. Meanwhile, there are strong deflationary signals on the supply side: in the sixth phase airdrop settled on May 4, only half of the 620,608.16 ASTER tokens entered the treasury, with the remaining 50% (around 310,000 tokens) permanently burned, which the market interpreted as a defensive action by the project team against selling pressure. However, on-chain data reveals another opposing force. According to AiCoin data, the address known in the market as "short-seller brother" 0xa31211...ad1e has made millions of dollars in profit from shorting ASTER and LIT, with profits from ASTER alone reaching $2.11 million. This collision between official deflationary incentives and the short-selling profits of major addresses has created a highly tense long-short standoff in ASTER's supply management and short market dynamics.

$50,000 Prize Pool Ignites AGT Perpetual

Aster DEX officially launched the AGTUSDT perpetual contract at 10:00 UTC on May 7. To quickly guide liquidity during the early stage of the product launch and hedge against market bearish sentiment, the official has simultaneously launched a trading reward campaign worth $50,000 in ASTER tokens. According to AiCoin data, the time window for this activity is set between May 7 and May 14 at 14:00 UTC, spanning just about a week. This high-intensity short-term incentive aims to improve users' willingness to participate in the AGTUSDT perpetual contract through tangible subsidies, attempting to build a deeper liquidity buffer for the AGT trading pair against the backdrop of active on-chain short forces.

According to the activity rules, the reward allocation is strictly linked to trading contribution: the proportion of trading fees generated by users in the AGTUSDT perpetual contract will directly determine their share of the $50,000 prize pool. To prevent rewards from being monopolized by a few accounts, the official has set a single-user reward limit of 3% of the total prize pool, and participants must accumulate more than $5 in trading fees and ensure that individual rewards are not less than 1 ASTER. Meanwhile, to ensure the fairness of the activity, the platform has clearly stated that it will exclude wash trading, self-dealing, and witch accounts to prevent manipulation. During the sensitive period right after a large-scale destruction of ASTER supply, this time-limited incentive measure may amplify the intensity of contract market dynamics in the short term, becoming a critical variable in the on-chain confrontation between long and short forces.

Fee Sharing and Participation Threshold Details

In the design of the incentive mechanism, Aster has adopted a contribution-based distribution logic. According to the official announcement, users' rewards on the AGTUSDT perpetual contract will be strictly allocated according to the proportion of trading fees they generate relative to the total trading fees of the contract. To prevent large holders from monopolizing the prize pool and ensure the widespread coverage of rewards, the platform has set a clear allocation red line: the reward limit for a single user is capped at 3% of the total prize pool. This tiered distribution structure aims to distribute the $50,000 ASTER token reward more evenly among active traders, rather than being completely covered by a few extremely high-frequency or large-position accounts.

Meanwhile, the platform attempts to filter out invalid traffic and cheating behavior by setting rigid participation thresholds and risk control audits. Participants must accumulate more than $5 in trading fees during the activity period, and individual settlement rewards must not be less than 1 ASTER to qualify for distribution. Addressing the common issue of "false prosperity" in decentralized exchanges, Aster has specified that it will use on-chain identification mechanisms to eliminate wash trading, self-dealing, and typical witch account manipulations. This mandatory requirement for real trading costs and the exclusive policy against malicious addresses not only increases the cost of abuse for small accounts but also reflects the protocol's attempts to filter high-engagement real users through precise incentives.

Half of Sixth Phase Airdrop Destroyed, Half Stored

While filtering for real traffic through anti-witch mechanisms, Aster's direct intervention in token circulation is reflected in its latest airdrop settlement plan. According to official data, the sixth phase airdrop settled a total of 620,608.16 ASTER, but this portion of tokens did not all flow into the secondary market, rather adopting a dual handling model of "burning + treasury". Among them, 50%, or 310,304.08 ASTER, has been permanently destroyed, reducing potential selling pressure from the supply side; the other 50%, also 310,304.08 ASTER, has been transferred to the Aster treasury contract. This distribution structure not only achieves a deflationary effect through destruction but also converts half of the share into assets controlled by the protocol, preserving a financial buffer for future ecological incentive or governance purposes.

For the immediate claim segment for community users, Aster has set clear time constraints and windows. The 50% immediate airdrop claim channel was officially opened at 20:00 Beijing time on May 4 and will remain open until 20:00 on June 4, 2026. This one-month window period essentially constitutes a dynamic assessment of community activity, with unclaimed shares facing potential further protocol disposition. Considering the current treasury-held airdrop shares, Aster is attempting to hedge against potential volatility that may arise after the perpetual contract's launch by adjusting the supply structure, ensuring that the allocation logic of tokens can serve long-term governance rather than short-term speculation.

Short-Seller Brother Earns Millions

As Aster tries to stabilize its chip structure through airdrop destruction, on-chain data reveals another representative profit logic. According to CoinW's report, the on-chain address 0xa312114b5795dff9b8db50474dd57701aa78ad1e (referred to as "short-seller brother" by the community) has achieved approximately $10.44 million in cumulative profits through precise shorting strategies over the past 90 days. The profit path of this address is heavily reliant on liquidity games of altcoins and some popular assets, with profits on LIT reaching $3.19 million, and profits on ASTER alone hitting $2.11 million. This multi-million dollar profit scale reflects that deep short layouts against ASTER have already existed before the launch of the AGTUSDT perpetual contract.

The operation details of this whale have been showcased by some trading platforms as samples of "smart money on-chain". Through the narratives promoted by these platforms, the transparency and productization of its shorting logic—such as the offered "0% profit-sharing" following mode—further amplified market concerns about downward pressure on ASTER prices. Despite Aster's efforts to boost bullish confidence through the $50,000 trading reward activity and the sixth phase airdrop destruction, the emergence of high-profit examples like "short-seller brother" undoubtedly reinforces the visibility of short positions at the narrative level. This strategy guidance from on-chain large profit addresses has become a key external variable in assessing the supply-demand balance of ASTER and the effectiveness of the protocol's destruction mechanism.

Observation Points After Reward Stimulus and Airdrop Destruction

The AGTUSDT perpetual contract reward activity (from May 7 at 10:00 UTC to May 14 at 14:00 UTC) and the sixth phase airdrop destruction collectively constitute Aster's short-term incentive and supply management combination. According to AiCoin data, this sixth phase airdrop settled over 620,000 ASTER, of which 50% (i.e., 310,304.08) has been permanently destroyed to hedge against potential sell pressure by reducing circulation. However, there is also a significant opposing perspective in on-chain data: address 0xa312114b5795dff9b8db50474dd57701aa78ad1e has profited about $10.44 million from shorting ASTER and LIT in the past 90 days, with ASTER contributing around $2.11 million in profits, and this high-revenue case adds real pressure to the long-short game. Subsequent markets need to focus on the continuity of heat after the May 14 reward activity ends, and whether such large address whales will continue to maintain their short inclination on ASTER, since historical profits do not guarantee future performance, and the supply-demand game of digital asset trading still holds high uncertainty.

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