Key takeaways
What explains the sharp drop in the price of Aster?
Heavy selling by whales and futures traders triggered intense downward pressure, leading to a 16.83% decline in 24 hours.
What could determine Aster’s next move?
If retail traders successfully defend the $1 support level, Aster could bounce towards $1.39 and retest the $1.5 resistance.
After being rejected at $1.5, Aster (ASTER) declined persistently for three days, reaching a low of $1.05. At press time, Aster was trading at $1.09, down 16.83% over the past 24 hours.
As Aster faces intense downward pressure, institutions and whales are selling aggressively.
Aster whales spill 17.857 million tokens
As Aster approaches a key support level, whales quickly exit 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 have sold a total of 17.857 million Aster tokens, worth $22.88 million.
This sales activity is not isolated. According to Nansen, Aster whales have collectively offloaded 62.61 million tokens over the past 24 hours, signaling a broader trend toward large-scale liquidation.
Source: Nansen
Often, when whales come ashore aggressively during a market downturn, it indicates a lack of market confidence. Historically, increased selling activity by large holders preceded price declines as downward pressure built.
Futures become more aggressive!
It should be noted that selling pressure is not limited to the spot market, as futures are also closing positions aggressively.
According to CoinGlass, sellers dominated the futures market over the past three days, closing out positions worth $2.3 billion.
Source: CoinGlass
On October 17, Aster Futures saw $1.09 billion in inflows compared to $1.24 billion in outflows. As a result, Futures Netflow fell 132.12%, reaching a low of $153.99 million, a clear sign of aggressive futures selling.
When sellers take control of the futures market, it generally signals risk aversion, indicating that traders are anticipating further price declines.
Retail traders hold on
Interestingly, while whales and futures participants are landing, small traders in the spot market are piling up.
According to CoinGlass, Aster has recorded negative Spot Netflow for five consecutive days. At press time, Netflow had fallen to -$22.04 million, indicating higher cash outflows.
Source: CoinGlass
Historically, weak currency inflows have preceded sustained upward pressure, a prelude to rising prices.
What’s next for the altcoin?
According to AMBCrypto, Aster declined sharply, due to increased selling pressure from whales and the futures market.
As a result, the altcoin’s stochastic RSI fell to 8.72 at the time of writing, reaching oversold territory. Likewise, its relative strength index (RSI) fell to 39, also approaching oversold territory.
Source: TradingView
Often, when momentum indicators fall to such levels, it signals seller dominance and the possibility of the current trend continuing.
Therefore, if sellers, especially whales, continue to sell, as was recently observed, Aster could break the $1 support on the downside. If this support breaks down, Aster could drop to $0.85.
However, if retail traders manage to defend and hold it, they could increase it to reclaim $1.39 and target resistance at $1.5.
