Aster affiliate program review: 10% by default, 20% after $100 million of referred volume

Aster pays anyone with a referral link 10% of the perpetual trading fees their invitees generate, and lets the referrer hand any part of that back to the trader as a fee discount. Approved affiliates receive 20% on referred traders in VIP 1 and 10% on VIP 2 and above, according to the referral program page, read on 27 September 2026. Approval is the hard part: the application form linked from that page asks for more than $100 million of referred trading volume in the past 14 days and more than 100 referred users. The relationship lasts 365 days by default, the commission reaches the Aster account by the next day, and none of the program documents names the company that pays it. Our score is 6/10.

Who runs the program

Aster is the perpetual DEX that Astherus and APX became; the release history records the change in the week starting 31 March 2025. The website footer reads “© 2026 Aster Foundation”. The terms and conditions, last updated 25 February 2026, define the counterparty in clause 1.1 as “Aster” and give no company name, registration number or address; the privacy notice of 13 April 2026 names “Aster” as data controller with the same omission. Governing law is Hong Kong (clause 12.1), which says where a dispute would be heard, not where the company is incorporated or whether anyone licenses it. No licence is cited anywhere.

The closest public record we found is in the Global LEI index: an “Aster Foundation”, a Cayman Islands foundation company (General Registry number CR-401935) formed on 27 July 2023, with a Legal Entity Identifier issued on 13 June 2025 and a registered address care of Leeward Management Limited in Camana Bay, George Town. Nothing in the referral rules, the terms or the privacy notice connects that entity to the referral program, so we present it as the footer name traced to a register, not as the party that owes you commission. If your own books need a contracting party, ask; the documents will not tell you.

One small detail says something about lineage. The upgrade application is a Google Form, and the footer Google prints on every form states that this one “was created inside of apollox.com”, the domain of ApolloX, the APX brand that merged into Aster. The program itself runs on Aster’s own referral page, with no Impact, PartnerStack or other third-party affiliate platform in between.

Commission structure

The referral rules cover trading on Aster Perps. The page carries no version number and shows only that it was last updated about six months before our read. Three rates exist:

Referrer	Referred trader’s tier	Share of eligible trading fees
Ordinary referrer	Any	10%, split with the trader as the referrer chooses
Approved affiliate	VIP 1 (under $5 million of 14-day volume)	20%
Approved affiliate	VIP 2 and above ($5 million or more, plus 500 ASTER or more)	10%

The split is set on the referral page with a slider. The screenshots on the program page show a base rate of 10% divided 5% to the referrer and 5% to the invitee, with a note that a new ratio takes effect after one to two hours and applies to all invitees. Whatever you give back comes out of your share. There is no CPA, hybrid deal, cash sub-affiliate tier or earnings cap on the page. The Stage 6 referral bonus pays a share of invitees’ and second-level invitees’ points, and points are not commission.

The upgrade goes through a commission rate adjustment request form. Its conditions, quoted: “Your referred trading volume on Aster exceeds $100M over the past 14 days” and “You have referred more than 100 users to Aster in total”, and the form says both must be met. Requests that qualify “will be reviewed and approved within a few days”, after which “the rate will be adjusted automatically after approval, without further notice”. Applicants with equivalent volume on other platforms are sent to a second form, which we did not read. The form asks for a wallet address and, if you want an account manager, an X profile; it warns that Aster “reserves the right to change the application criteria at any time, at its sole discretion and without prior notice” and that non-qualifying requests are declined “without additional notice”. No re-qualification schedule is stated, and nothing says what happens to the 20% if your referred volume later falls.

VIP is the referred trader’s tier, not yours. The VIP program page assesses status daily at 23:59 UTC on two conditions that must both hold: rolling 14-day spot-plus-perp volume in USD, and a daily-average ASTER balance across the spot, perpetual and staking accounts. Its fee tables, by tier:

Tier	14-day volume	ASTER balance	Taker fee, general pairs	Taker fee, Group B pairs
VIP 1	under $5M	0 or more	4.0 bps	10.0 bps
VIP 2	$5M or more	500 or more	3.5 bps	5.0 bps
VIP 3	$25M or more	2,500 or more	3.3 bps	3.3 bps
VIP 4	$100M or more	25,000 or more	2.3 bps	2.3 bps
VIP 5	$500M or more	250,000 or more	2.0 bps	2.0 bps
VIP 6	$1B or more	2,500,000 or more	1.6 bps	1.6 bps

Maker fees are 0 bps at every tier since 2 February 2026. RWA perpetuals pay a flat 1.25 bps taker fee at every tier from 7 September 2026, and the fee page lists 21 Group B pairs against the VIP page’s 19; we do not rely on the difference.

Since VIP 1 is the row every new trader lands in, the approved 20% is what an affiliate earns on ordinary traders; the day one of them clears $5 million in a fortnight while holding 500 ASTER, the share halves and the fee it applies to shrinks. Per $1 million of taker volume on a general pair: $40 for an ordinary referrer keeping the full 10%, $80 for an approved affiliate on a VIP 1 trader, $35 on a VIP 2 trader; on an RWA pair, $25 and $12.50. Maker volume earns nothing, because maker fees are zero and the rules exclude “zero-fee trade volume” from the calculation, alongside liquidation fees and self-trades. A volume figure on a referral dashboard says little about income until you know which side of the book and which pair group produced it.

Attribution and cookies

Only new users who sign up through the link are eligible, and the relationship “is valid for 365 days by default (Aster may extend this at its discretion)”. That is the whole attribution section of the rules. There is no cookie duration, no first- or last-click rule, no statement about a code entered after signup and no promise to repair a missed attribution. The 365 days run from the account, not from a click, and they are the earning window, not a cookie window. Of the perp DEX programs we have reviewed, Aster is the one that writes a duration down; GRVT publishes none.

In the app, “when connecting a wallet for the first time, users are prompted to enter a referral code”, per the release notes for the week starting 1 September 2025; the web referral page gained adjustable splits in the week starting 14 July 2025. Those notes describe a product, not a promise, so test the flow with a fresh wallet before buying traffic and ask in writing which referrer wins when two codes touch one account.

Referred users’ identity checks are not a condition in the referral rules, and Aster is wallet-based, but clause 2.3 of the terms lets Aster “implement limited identity verification procedures” and refuse or limit service to anyone who does not comply. Self-referral through several wallets is prohibited; if detected, “all rewards will be revoked”.

Payouts

From the referral rules: “All rebate rewards are calculated in real time and transferred to your Aster account by the following day”; the referral page statistics lag one to two hours; rewards “are paid out in the same asset your referee used to pay their trading fees”. A separate line says rebate rates “are calculated daily at 00:00 UTC and updated at 09:00 UTC”, which concerns the rate applied, not the time of payment. No minimum, holdback or first-payment delay is published, because there is no payout event: the commission lands in the trading account.

Moving it to a wallet is an ordinary withdrawal. The deposit and withdrawal guide: choose network, token and amount, approve in the wallet, and funds arrive “within a few minutes” subject to chain confirmations. The same guide says negative balances, which arise from losses, funding fees and trading commissions because the settlement asset is USDT, must be resolved before making withdrawals. That concerns your own trading account; nothing in the referral rules charges your referrals’ losses against your commission.

On the on-chain question our DEX rubric asks, the answer is no. The smart contracts page lists deposit bridges, token and Earn contracts, not a referral or fee-distribution contract, and there is no claim function: the credit is computed and posted by Aster. Treat it as an exchange-administered rebate, like GRVT’s, not an on-chain fee split you could audit; Ostium’s builder fees are the auditable kind.

The terms that bite

The referral rules are eight bullet points. Three matter beyond the rates: “Aster reserves the right to modify rates, rules, or cancel the program at any time”; custom codes that are “offensive, misleading, or harmful may result in removal from the program”; and “Referrers are responsible for understanding the legal implications of promoting leveraged trading in their region”, the only sentence in the program addressed to you as a promoter. Nothing protects an existing rate against a change, and nothing says what happens to accrued commission if the program is cancelled. The application form adds that the criteria can change without notice.

The platform terms of 25 February 2026 govern the account the commission sits in:

• Prohibited jurisdictions, clause 2.1(c). The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, China, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela and Syria, plus sanctioned territories; residence, location, incorporation or a registered office in any of them disqualifies a user. That covers the affiliate’s own account and every referral; there is no separate affiliate country list.
• Suspension, clause 11.2. Access can be suspended “immediately, without prior notice or liability, for any reason whatsoever”. Clause 11.3 says nothing about paying out what has accrued.
• Changes, section 10. Terms change by posting: minor changes without notice, “significant” ones with “reasonable notice”, which may be an in-app message; keeping the wallet connected for about 30 days after notice counts as acceptance.
• Fees and transfers, clauses 4.1(e), 5.3 and 5.5. Aster may charge for “maintaining inactive access”, delay or refuse transfers on suspicion, and set transfer limits at its discretion. We found no inactivity fee amount on the fee pages.
• Promotion, clause 6.1(b). Reproducing or distributing platform material needs prior written consent. Paid search, brand bidding and incentivised traffic are not addressed anywhere; the adjustable fee discount is the only sanctioned incentive.
• Recourse, sections 8, 12 and 14. Liability is capped at “the amount paid, if any, by you to us for the Services”; disputes go to HKIAC arbitration in Hong Kong, in English, before one arbitrator, with class actions waived; Aster may assign the terms “at any time without notice to you”.

A publisher buying placements through a network such as Coinzilla should get the creative and paid-search questions answered in writing first. An approved rate is not a campaign approval.

What affiliates report

Trustpilot’s asterdex.com profile, read on 27 September 2026, shows 2.3 out of 5 from six reviews, all one star, on an unclaimed profile with “no history of asking for reviews”. Six reviews is a footnote for a venue whose own home page counter reports 47.77 million users, and none of the six concerns referral commission. One posted on 9 February 2026 describes a two-factor lockout with a support ticket unanswered for ten days; one posted on 11 March 2026 describes a liquidation during what the reviewer calls an abnormal price spike on a small pair, with partial compensation acknowledged; one from late March alleges a liquidation without the stop level being hit. Two others recommend “recovery” firms by name, which is why we give them no weight.

We looked for dated reports of unpaid Aster referral commission on Reddit, Bitcointalk and the affiliate forums and found none; we found no independent report of commission being paid either. A scheme that credits the account the next day leaves little room for the slow-payment disputes that fill casino affiliate forums, and it also has no public track record.

Aster against the alternatives

We re-read the three program documents on 27 September 2026. “Not stated” means absent from the public program pages, not a promise that no condition exists.

Term	Aster	GRVT Ambassador	Extended affiliate
Direct fee share	10% default; approved 20% on VIP 1, 10% on VIP 2 and above	25% base; 30% and 35% at higher tiers	Not published; “boosted points and rebates on all net fees”
Commission base	Eligible Aster Perps trading fees	Perpetual trading fees	Net fees: fees paid less maker rebates
Indirect share	Not stated; campaign points only	2%, 3% or 5% by tier	10% of fees paid by sub-affiliates’ users
Earning duration	365 days by default	Not stated	Not stated
Credit timing	By the following day	Not stated	Not stated
Minimum payout	None; account credit	Not stated	Not stated
Entry	Anyone at 10%; 20% by application (over $100M referred volume in 14 days and over 100 users)	10 friends trading 12M USDT in two weeks, or an application	Invitation from the team or an existing affiliate

Sources: Aster’s referral rules and application form, GRVT’s Ambassador guide of 1 April 2026 and reward calculation article, and Extended’s referrals and affiliates page.

GRVT publishes the higher percentage and the lower entry bar and leaves the payment calendar unwritten; our GRVT affiliate program review has the detail. Extended says exactly what “net” means and nothing about the rate. Aster is the only one of the three with a duration and a credit time on the page, and the only one whose upgrade bar is set in hundreds of millions. For a centralised derivatives venue whose affiliate pages publish even less, see our Flipster affiliate program review; the established exchanges are in our exchange affiliate comparison. Lighter, the third perp DEX we have read, splits the offer in two: builders set their own fee up to 10 bps and referrers get 10–30% of a 0.028% taker fee, paid on Mondays from $1; see our Lighter affiliate program review. Pacifica, on Solana, publishes only a ceiling: up to 40% of a 0.040% taker fee for affiliates chosen by Discord ticket, and points for everyone else; see our Pacifica affiliate program review.

Verdict

6/10. In Aster’s favour: three published rates, a defined fee base with explicit exclusions, a duration written down, next-day crediting with no minimum, and no non-payment record. Against it: a 20% that requires $100 million of referred volume in a fortnight and then halves on the traders worth the most; a one-year default where our rubric asks for lifetime; a program that can be repriced or cancelled at any time; an account that can be suspended “for any reason whatsoever”; no contracting entity; and no on-chain share or claim function, which the DEX rubric requires for 8 and above. It stays above 5 because the rates are public, the restrictions are public and nobody has reported going unpaid.

It suits a community of active perpetual traders outside the prohibited list. Model it at 10%, or at 5% if you give half back; price a general-pair taker at $40 per million dollars of volume at the default rate; count maker volume as nothing; and treat the 20% as a future negotiation, not a plan. Withdraw the first month’s credit to a wallet you control, and write down the legal name if anyone gives you one.

FAQ

What is Aster’s affiliate commission?

10% of eligible Aster Perps trading fees by default, split between you and the trader as you choose. Approved affiliates receive 20% on referred VIP 1 traders and 10% on VIP 2 and above. Approval requires more than $100 million of referred volume in the past 14 days and more than 100 referred users.

When does Aster pay referral commission?

It is calculated in real time and credited to your Aster account by the following day, in the asset the trader paid fees in. There is no minimum and no payout day; moving the money to your wallet is an ordinary withdrawal.

Is the Aster affiliate program legit?

The rules and the application form sit on Aster’s own documentation site and the venue is live. No legal entity is named; the footer says Aster Foundation, and a Cayman Islands foundation company of that name holds a Legal Entity Identifier. Trustpilot shows 2.3 out of 5 from six reviews, none about commission. We found no report of unpaid commission and no independent record of commission being paid.

Aster referral versus affiliate: what is the difference?

Same link, different rate. Every user gets the referral scheme at 10%. Affiliate status is the same link at 20% on VIP 1 traders and 10% on VIP 2 and above, granted by application to accounts that have already referred more than $100 million of volume in 14 days and more than 100 users, and switched on automatically “within a few days” of approval. GMGN, the memecoin terminal, uses the same one-link design with a 10% to 30% range and an application form for the higher rate, but its terms forbid publishing the link on Twitter, Reddit or blogs; see our GMGN affiliate program review.

Is Aster affiliate commission lifetime?

No. Referral relationships are valid for 365 days by default, with any extension at Aster’s discretion, and the rules allow Aster to modify rates or cancel the program at any time.

Can I refer traders from the US or the UK?

No. Clause 2.1(c) of the platform terms prohibits use from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, China, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela and Syria, and from sanctioned territories, whether by residence, location or incorporation. The same clause applies to your own account.

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