The price of the ASTER token plunged more than 12% on Monday, hitting a fresh all-time low of $0.61, even as the Aster protocol activated its long-planned strategic token buyback program. According to CoinGecko data, ASTER was trading around $0.63 at the time of reporting, reflecting the significant 24-hour decline.
The downturn coincided with the official start of Aster's strategic repurchase initiative. In a statement, the protocol announced it was "actively deploying our Strategic Buyback Reserve for $ASTER token repurchases automatically." This activation is part of the broader Stage 5 Buyback Program announced in late December 2025, which allocates 20-40% of daily platform fees into targeted buybacks. The program is designed to respond dynamically to market conditions to maximize value and reduce circulating supply.
The buyback execution is already verifiable on-chain, with initial repurchases automatically made from a dedicated reserve wallet (0x5E4969C41ca9F9831468B98328A370b7AbD5a397). The Stage 5 framework combines an Automatic Daily Buyback (using 40% of fees for consistent, on-chain support and gradual supply reduction) with a Strategic Buyback Reserve (20%-40% of fees) for targeted interventions during market volatility.
Despite these measures, ASTER's price continued to slide, contrasting with the recent performance of the LIT token from Lighter DEX, which rallied nearly 20% following a similar buyback announcement. This suggests protocol-driven buybacks may struggle to counteract selling pressure in bearish or illiquid market environments.
Meanwhile, some analysts argue the current price weakness masks underlying strength. Analyst Hunter (@Blockhunta) points to a growing divergence between ASTER's depressed price and its expanding DeFi infrastructure, particularly within its perpetuals DEX segment, which continues to see rising trading volumes. Hunter emphasizes that ASTER's market cap of $1.8-2B is low relative to the volume it processes, a gap he believes will eventually close as the market reprices fundamentals.
Long-term conviction is also tied to Aster's roadmap, which includes a privacy-focused Layer 1 chain slated for release in Q1 2026. Analysts suggest this positions ASTER within a privacy narrative expected to gain traction amid increasing regulatory pressure. The token's design, combining fee-funded buybacks and burns with governance incentives, is seen as creating a structure of "infrastructure plus adoption plus deflation" that could fuel a future trend reversal.
