Following a minor downtick of 0.6% in 24 hours, $ASTER was trading within a thin range of $0.60 and $0.59 at press time. Valued at $0.6015, $ASTER’s recent decline has been driven by reduced market activity and lack of steady capital inflows.
Whale opens 4x long position worth $4.3 million
Despite Aster-DEX’s [$ASTER] market slowdown, however, some whales are still pretty optimistic. According to Lookonchain, a whale opened a 4x long on 7.2 million $ASTER worth $4.33 million on Aster_DEX. At the time of writing, this position was already down $322K as the market has barely moved since.
Even so, opening a leveraged position in current market conditions is evidence of strong optimism. This implied that the whale might be anticipating a possible rebound on the charts.
That’s not all though as it would seem that market participants have also turned bullish and edged to longs. According to Coinalyze, the Long/Short Ratio has remained way above 1 at 1.77, with longs accounting for 63%.
Such a high demand for longs means that most investors in the derivatives are bullish. Like the aforementioned whale, they may be betting on a potential market rebound too.
Is staking a better alternative now
Staking on Aster-DEX has slowed down significantly in August. In fact, staked $ASTER declined from $283 million to $276 million, marking an over $7 million drop.
Now, after two weeks of decline, it would seem that investors, especially whales, may be returning. With the market performing poorly, the previously reported whale did not only gamble with longs but also staked.
The whale staked 4.02 million $ASTER worth $2.42 million for 4 years. The decision to stake for the long term is just another sign of optimism. It also implied that the whale expects to earn from yield, regardless of market conditions.
Historically, staking has played a major role in reducing supply and absorbing market pressure.
What’s next for the altcoin?
Although the whale deployed significant capital, $ASTER’s bearish structure has so far remained strong. In fact, the altcoin’s Stochastic Momentum Index (SMI) has continued to decline since making the bearish crossover two days ago.
With the SMI within the negative zone, it suggested that the bears have total control of the market. The Chance Momentum Indicator also confirmed this trend, as it fell and held within the negative zone.
These two indicators, together, hinted at the likelihood of the current trend continuing. If that is the case, $ASTER is likely to lose the $0.6 support and drop to $0.58.
Final Summary
- A whale opened a 4x long on 7.2 million $ASTER worth $4.33 million on Aster_DEX and staked 4.02 million $ASTER worth $2.42 million.
- $ASTER has been hovering around $0.60, but a hike in selling pressure threatens a dip to $0.58.