ASTER – Here’s why traders are cutting back exposure after market cap lost $1B

Key Takeaways

Why is ASTER dropping?

Futures Netflows hit -$139.9 million, Perpetual Volume slid to $42.88 billion, and Spot showed a negative delta.

What levels matter next for ASTER?

ASTER may test the $1.32 support level if selling continues, or rebound towards $2.1 and $2.4 if speculative demand revives.

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Since hitting an all-time high of $2.43 on 24 September, Aster [ASTER] has seen intense downward pressure on the charts. 

In fact, at the time of writing, the altcoin was trading at $1.74, following a 10.34% decline on the daily charts. It was also down by approximately 27.75% from its aforementioned ATH. 

During the same stretch, its market cap slipped by nearly $1 billion, from $3.89 billion to $2.9 billion. Hence, the question – Is the ASTER hype over?

Futures see a regime shift

Significantly, after recording massive demand for Futures positions, ASTER investors have been aggressively reducing their exposure. 

According to CoinGlass, Futures Inflows fell to $1.22 billion while outflows jumped to $1.36 billion. As a result, the altcoin saw negative netflows of -$139.9 million – Marking a -133% change over the last 24 hours. 

Typically, when outflows outpace inflows in the Futures market, it is a sign of a drop in capital inflows and a hike in exits. 

At the same time, ASTER’s Perpetual Volume fell massively, dropping from $46.98 billion to $42.88 billion in 24 hours. In the past week alone, this metric has fallen from $188.3 billion – Indicating a massive drop in open positions. 

That contraction could allude to fewer open positions and aggressive de-risking by traders.

Bears dominate Spot market

Just like Futures, Spot markets saw a significant shift in investor behavior. After buyers dominated the market for a sustained period, sellers jumped into the market to displace them. 

Coinalyze data also revealed a negative buy-sell delta for two consecutive days.

On 28 September, ASTER logged 38.8k in Sell Volume versus 32k in Buy Volume, creating a -6k delta. That imbalance can be seen as a sign of stronger selling pressure.

ASTER whales scale back

Finally, as the market retraced on the charts, whale activity reduced significantly. At its peak a week ago, whales were scooping over 1.6 billion in a single day.

 Running into the ATH, the average inflows exceeded 100 million daily.

However, whales bought only 21 million while offloading 15 million this week. Simply put, the pullback in whale demand marked a fall in speculative appetite.

Correction or trend reversal?

According to AMBCrypto’s analysis, ASTER has seen a significant shift in investor sentiment across the Futures and Spot markets.

For that reason, traders have been actively reducing exposure in Futures, while others are selling on the Spot. These two market conditions leave ASTER on the losing side for now.

If bearish sentiment persists, ASTER could drop to its $1.32 support. If speculators re-enter, the token may retest $2.1 before challenging its $2.4 resistance zone.