DeFiLlama has decided to drop Aster’s perpetual futures trading volume data from its platform after raising doubts about how reliable those numbers really are. Aster, a decentralized exchange linked to Binance Co-Founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, is now under scrutiny over the accuracy of its reported volumes.
The move comes after DeFiLlama’s Co-Founder, known pseudonymously as 0xngmi, revealed that Aster’s perpetual trading volumes had started “mirroring Binance Perp volumes almost exactly.”
According to him, the correlation ratio between Binance and Aster’s trading activity is now close to 1 — a level that raised significant doubts about the authenticity of Aster’s reported data.
Volumes show “almost perfect correlation” with Binance
0xngmi posted charts to back his claims. On Aster, trading pairs like XRPUSDT and ETHUSDT were moving almost exactly the same as they do on Binance — a near one-to-one match. But on Hyperliquid, those same pairs behaved differently, showing natural ups and downs that point to real trading activity instead of something artificial.
The bigger issue, according to the DeFiLlama team, is that they can’t access deeper order data on Aster, like which wallets are placing and filling trades. Without that data, they cannot verify whether the reported trades are legitimate, artificially inflated, or part of wash trading schemes.
“Aster doesn’t make it possible to get lower-level data, so until we can verify if there’s wash trading, Aster perpetual volumes will be delisted,” 0xngmi said. He made it clear that the move had nothing to do with taking sides—it was purely about protecting the accuracy and trustworthiness of the data.
Aster, which entered the scene in mid-September as a rival to Hyperliquid, grew quickly in the decentralized perpetuals market. Built on BNB Chain and backed by YZi Labs, the exchange briefly overtook Hyperliquid in daily fees, with its reported perpetual trading volumes reaching around $60 billion by the end of September.
However, following 0xngmi’s announcement, Aster’s native token ASTER dropped from $2 to $1.8, with a 24-hour decline of 9.23%, as per CoinMarketCap. Right now, ASTER is trading at $1.84, giving it a market cap of around $3.06 billion. Its 24-hour trading volume stands at $1.22 billion, which is down about 9.32% in the last day.
DeFiLlama removing Aster’s perpetual trading data got mixed reactions on X. Some people said it was the right move to keep the data reliable, while others claimed the platform was being biased.
In response, 0xngmi clarified that neither he nor DeFiLlama has any financial connection to Aster or its competitor Hyperliquid, and pointed out that the platform has taken similar action against other DEXs in the past when there were questions about data integrity.
Data integrity over popularity
DeFiLlama confirmed that Aster’s spot trading and total value locked (TVL) data will remain on the platform, but perpetual futures statistics will be removed until greater transparency is provided.
“Our users trust our data and make investing decisions based on it. If we report incorrect data, they’ll make the wrong decisions,” 0xngmi said, underscoring that “the integrity of our data” remains the platform’s top priority.
Aster has yet to issue an official response to the delisting decision.
Also Read: Traders Drive Billions in Volume on Aster: Wash Trading or Airdrop Farming?
