Aster has switched on a new buyback system that uses a large share of its daily platform fees to buy ASTER tokens directly on-chain.
The new setup sends between 20% and 40% of Aster’s daily revenue toward automatic ASTER buybacks. It officially went live on January 19, and the first transactions can already be seen on the blockchain.
This buyback reserve is funded straight from the fees generated by Aster’s perpetual futures exchange. Everything runs automatically, and anyone can track the purchases on-chain.
How this is different from earlier buybacks
The new reserve works alongside Aster’s existing Stage 5 buyback program, which launched in late December 2025. Stage 5 uses a fixed amount of daily fees to buy ASTER every day, no matter what the market is doing.
The new reserve is more flexible. Instead of a fixed amount, it can adjust between 20% and 40% of daily fees, depending on things like market liquidity, price movement, and volatility.
When both systems are active, up to 80% of Aster’s daily protocol fees can be used to buy back ASTER tokens. All of it happens on-chain and is fully transparent.
Most of the funds come from perpetual trading fees. On top of that, Aster’s Shield Mode feature also plays a role. Shield Mode only charges fees on profitable high-leverage trades, and 100% of those fees are sent straight to ASTER buybacks.
A long-term plan, not a quick price fix
So far, across all buyback stages, Aster has already repurchased more than 209 million ASTER tokens, worth over $140 million at the time they were bought. Some of those tokens were burned, while others were kept for treasury purposes.
ASTER’s price is down about 13% over the past month, but Aster says this reflects broader market pressure, not changes to its buyback strategy.
The team has made it clear that this new reserve is meant to be a long-term system tied to real platform revenue, not a short-term move to pump the token price. According to Aster, the buyback framework is expected to stay in place throughout 2026.
