Key Takeaways
What’s driving Aster’s sharp decline in price?
Heavy selling by whales and Futures traders has triggered intense downward pressure, leading to a 16.83% drop in 24 hours.
What could determine Aster’s next move?
If retail traders successfully defend the $1 support level, Aster could rebound toward $1.39 and retest the $1.5 resistance.
After facing rejection at $1.5, Aster [ASTER] has declined persistently for three days, hitting a low of $1.05. At press time, Aster was trading at $1.09, marking a 16.83% decline over the past 24 hours.
With Aster facing intense downside pressure, institutions and whales are aggressively selling.
Aster whales dump 17.857 million tokens
As Aster approaches a key support level, whales are rapidly exiting their long-term positions. EmberCN reported that one whale deposited 9.575 million tokens worth $12.53 million into Binance, while another transferred 8.282 million tokens to Bybit.
Together, these two whales sold a total of 17.857 million Aster tokens, valued at $22.88 million.
This selling activity isn’t isolated. According to Nansen, Aster whales collectively offloaded 62.61 million tokens in the past 24 hours, signaling a broader trend of large-scale liquidation.
Source: Nansen
Often, when whales aggressively offload during a market downturn, it signals a lack of market confidence. Historically, increased selling activity from large holders has preceded lower prices, as downward pressure mounts.
Futures become more aggressive!
Notably, the selling pressure is not limited to the spot market, as Futures are also aggressively closing positions.
According to CoinGlass, sellers have dominated the Futures market over the past three days, closing $2.3 billion worth of positions.
Source: CoinGlass
On the 17th of October, Aster Futures saw $1.09 billion in inflows compared to $1.24 billion in outflows. As a result, Futures Netflow dropped 132.12%, hitting a low of $153.99 million, a clear sign of aggressive Futures selling.
When sellers take control of the futures market, it typically signals a risk-off sentiment, indicating that traders anticipate further price declines.
Retail traders hold on
Interestingly, while whales and Futures participants are offloading, small-scale traders on the spot market are accumulating.
According to CoinGlass, Aster has recorded a negative Spot Netflow for five consecutive days. At press time, Netflow had declined to -$22.04 million, indicating higher outflows.
Source: CoinGlass
Historically, low exchange inflows have preceded sustained upward pressure, a prelude to higher prices.
What’s next for the altcoin?
According to AMBCrypto, Aster has declined sharply, driven by increased sell pressure from whales and the Futures market.
As a result, the altcoin’s Stochastic RSI dropped to 8.72, as of writing, hitting the oversold territory. Likewise, its Relative Strength Index (RSI) fell to 39, also nearing oversold territory.
Source: TradingView
Often, when momentum indicators drop to such levels, it signals sellers’ dominance and potential for the current trend to continue.
Therefore, if sellers, especially whales, continue to sell, as recently witnessed, Aster could breach $1 support to the downside. If this support breaks, Aster could drop to $0.85.
However, if retail traders manage to defend and hold it, they could boost it to reclaim $1.39 and target $1.5 resistance.
