Aster DEX will use the last ~1.4M USDT in its strategic buyback reserve to buy $ASTER over 14 days, starting Thursday, October 15. At about 100,000 USDT a day, the purchases will be spread ev
Aster DEX will use the last ~1.4M USDT in its strategic buyback reserve to buy $ASTER over 14 days, starting Thursday, October 15. At about 100,000 USDT a day, the purchases will be spread evenly across the two-week window.
The reserve buyback runs alongside the protocol's regular repurchases. Those are funded by 99% of platform fees, with the bought tokens going to users who lock up ASTER. @Aster_DEX has positioned the program as a way to tie the token to platform activity.
The strategic reserve dates back to the project's Stage 5 buyback program. Stage 5 began on December 23 and allocated up to 80% of platform fees to $ASTER, with 40% of daily fees going to automatic buybacks and another 20% to 40% held in strategic reserves. A Stage 6 program followed on February 4, 2026, again allocating up to 80% of daily platform fees to repurchases.
The structure changed again in June. Aster announced a tokenomics upgrade on June 17, 2026, directing 99% of daily platform fees into automatic $ASTER buybacks for veASTER stakers, with matching burns aimed at cutting total supply toward 3 billion. Since that date, the buybacks have run through a TWAP on Aster Spot, and the purchased tokens are distributed to veASTER holders on top of a 300,000 $ASTER base reward pool each epoch.
Permissionless listings add a further source of funding. Each permissionless token listing on Aster Spot requires a 50,000 USDT fee, which also goes toward ASTER purchases.
The size of the regular buyback depends on trading activity. Because each buyback tracks daily fees, a quieter quarter lowers staker rewards and slows the pace of burns. The reserve purchases are a fixed amount, so they do not depend on volume over the 14 days.
Independent scrutiny of the mechanism is also worth noting. Analytics platform Tokenomist has reported that the burn leg has largely stalled, with roughly one hundred million ASTER burned in early 2026 against a target reduction of about five billion. The reserve buyback, by contrast, is a direct market purchase of the token.
Past rounds have not always moved the price. When the strategic reserve was activated in January, ASTER dropped to $0.55 around the time the DEX confirmed buybacks were live. Buybacks reduce available supply but do not guarantee a price response, and the outcome will depend on broader market conditions and liquidity.
Sources
BeInCrypto: Aster expands its token buyback programDatawallet: Aster DEX review, buyback and burn mechanicsSQ Magazine: Aster DEX Stage 5 buyback program
