Important highlights
- Aster Dex has announced a refund immediately to cover losses from technical errors
- Technical error hit DEX that caused false short liquidation in XPL trading pairs
- The problem was a miscalculation of funding rates caused by platform errors
Aster Dex has pledged to fully repay traders who lost their money due to technical issues with the platform on Thursday. This issue has caused a wave of automatic account closures for traders betting on tokens called XPL.
We are aware of the unusual price movement of XPL’s permanent trading pairs. Don’t worry, all user funds are SAFU. We have conducted a full review to compensate affected users for losses.
– Aster (@aster_dex) September 25, 2025
The announcement is a major step for Aster, as it seeks to reassure users that their funds are safe, especially after a week of wild fluctuations in the decentralized financial (DEFI) market.
What didn’t work?
This issue concentrated a key feature of persistent futures trading, known as the “finance rate.” Simply put, this is the fees traders pay or receive regularly to maintain the price of their futures contract that matches the actual spot price.
At Aster Dex, this funding rate was incorrectly calculated for XPL tokens due to delays in price data. This mistake directly affected traders who had acquired “short” positions. In other words, I was surmising that the price of XPL would be lower.
Due to the incorrect rate, their accounts showed sudden, artificial losses. This caused an automatic clearing system for the platform, forcing the position to be closed to prevent further losses. In reality, these traders should not have been liquidated.
Users of X claimed that the root of the issue was not a complicated exploit, but a serious error in the setup. Users claim that Aster Dex first hardcoded the XPL index price to $1 and placed a $1.22 artificial cap at the mark price, the price used for liquidation. When this cap was suddenly removed, the mark price was spiked violently to $4, despite the value of the token remaining stable in all other major exchanges.
Aster’s answer: “All user funds are SAFU”
Aster Dex quickly addressed this issue on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The team said from their official account:We are aware of the unusual price movement of XPL’s permanent trading pairs. Don’t worry, all user funds are SAFU. We have conducted a full review to compensate affected users for losses. ”
“Safu” is a common cipher slang. The indemnity of the platform emphasizes that the user’s assets are always in their own control.
Beyond the promise of a refund, Aster has waived the large liquidation fees that are normally charged when the position is automatically closed. This indicates that the platform accepts full responsibility for errors. The refund process is expected to be automated and completed within the next few hours or days.
This incident did not occur in a vacuum. XPL tokens have recently been at the heart of major turbulence. Just a few weeks ago, after a trader committed a massive error, a rival exchange called Hyperliquid saw more than $150 million liquidation, causing prices to surge unmanageable.
The Aster problem was a technical glitches, but it shows the risks inherent in debt transactions.
What is Asterdex?
Aster Dex is a major player in the world of decentralized, permanent futures trading. Founded in March 2025 by integrating two other projects, it has gained support from figures from key industry figures, including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ).
The platform is known for its user-friendly features and offers a “simple” mode for beginners and a “Pro” mode for advanced traders. There are also innovative systems designed to prevent the very types of “clearing hunts” that have plagued other exchanges.
For now, XPL tokens are stable and trading activities are back.