CZ Buys Aster, Market Crashes, Whale Walks Away Rich: Report
- CZ’s Aster purchase sparked a swift rally to $1.20, then collapsed back to $0.90 overnight.
- Traders mocked CZ’s “reverse Midas touch” after Aster’s gains vanished within 24 hours.
- A whale shorted Aster right after CZ’s post, securing $21 million profit from the crash.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao’s latest crypto move once again stirred the market. On November 2, CZ announced on X that he had purchased Aster (ASTR) tokens at about $0.90 each. Within hours, the token’s value jumped sharply, reaching a high of $1.20. The sharp rally drew immediate attention across the crypto community. But by the next day, the gains had completely disappeared, and the market reversed course.
The following day, Aster fell back to $0.90, erasing all its gains. Social media reacted fast, flooding with memes and jokes about CZ’s “reverse Midas touch.” Traders called it another example of hype turning into disappointment. The brief rally left many retail investors trapped at higher prices.
CZ Jokes About Losses, Urges Caution After Aster Dip
CZ responded with humor on X and stated that every time he buys coins, prices drop afterward. He said he had a 100% losing record. He reminded followers that in 2014, he bought Bitcoin at $600, only to see it fall to $200. In 2017, his BNB purchase also dropped by around 30% soon after.
He added that he had recently increased his Aster position but warned others to be cautious. CZ said he would stop revealing his future buys to avoid influencing markets. His comments reflected awareness of the market impact his actions could have, especially among retail traders who monitor his moves closely.
While CZ’s honesty caught attention, another trader saw an opportunity. A pseudonymous wallet address, 0x9eec, placed a massive short on Aster through Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives exchange. The trade came minutes after CZ’s post, when Aster was near its temporary peak. The trader’s timing turned out to be perfect.
Whale trader flips CZ’s Aster move into $21M profit spree
Lookonchain, a blockchain tracker, first spotted the move. Data showed that the wallet held Aster positions worth about $52.8 million, with a liquidation level near $2.09. According to Hyperliquid’s dashboard, the trader managed multiple leveraged shorts across Aster, DOGE, ETH, XRP, and PEPE. The combined results showed substantial profits.
The first wallet held a $36.07 million short against Aster at 3x leverage, at an average of $1.2083. With the token later falling to $0.8371, the position gained roughly $15.84 million, a 131.7% profit. The second wallet opened a smaller short of $12.84 million at $1.1625, now showing $4.95 million in unrealized profit.
Both positions had liquidation prices far above current levels, suggesting minimal exposure to sudden reversals. The two Aster shorts together generated more than $21 million in gains. The trader’s total unrealized profit across all active positions approached $100 million, according to live data on Hyperliquid.
Related: Aster Surges After CZ’s Announcement About the Purchase
Other tokens were also profitable to the same trader. A DOGE short of value $25.2 million at 5x leveraged paid off about $7 million as prices dropped between $0.2075 and $0.1618. The other PEPE position, which was opened at $11.8 million, indicated a profit of approximately $5.09 million. Every trade had proper timing and good risk management.
The response of the market to the announcement of CZ was indicative of the extreme volatility of crypto. One sentence of a significant figure caused a storm and a breakdown in 24 hours. The community was relieved by the jokes of CZ, yet the event made it clear how much sentiment could change in a short period.
As Aster trades near $0.91, the episode has become a reminder of crypto’s unpredictability. The celebrity purchase may lead to a frenzy, but the astute could capitalize on the result. The transparency of CZ in this instance resulted in a rush, a crash, and a lot of money in the hands of a person who read the moment right.
