Aster USD1 RWA Boost Phase 1: Rules, Points and Eligibility

Aster opened a rewards campaign on its USD1-settled real-world-asset perpetuals on August 31, 2026. Four outlets reported that it launched. None of them wrote down what it does, which is the part that decides whether it is worth anyone's time.

This page is a reading of Aster's own campaign terms: which pairs count, how the two point systems score, what the collateral requirement actually tests, and when a reward stops being claimable. Every figure here comes from Aster's published terms and is dated below. It is documentation, not a recommendation to participate.

Photo by Rômulo Queiroz on Pexels, used for illustrative purposes.

What is the Aster USD1 RWA Boost?

It is a points campaign attached to Aster's USD1-denominated RWA perpetual pairs, and it is structured as two independent competitions rather than one.

Aster's terms describe the split plainly. Trading Points share the USD1 reward pool. Open Interest Points share the WLFI reward pool. A trader can compete in one, the other, or both, and the two are scored and paid separately. Phase 1 carries 125M $WLFI and 6.25M USD1 in total, distributed equally across all epochs rather than weighted toward any particular week.

The campaign runs from August 31 to December 31, 2026. Each epoch is one week, Monday 00:00:00 to Sunday 23:59:59 UTC, with a final epoch that ends on December 31 at 23:59:59 UTC instead of on a Sunday.

One thing worth naming, since it appeared in several news write-ups: Aster's own terms describe no entry fee and no deposit minimum for the campaign. The figures that circulated alongside the launch coverage are not all in Aster's documentation. Where this page and a headline disagree, the terms linked at the foot of the page are what was actually published.

Which pairs are eligible?

Six, and only six. Aster's terms list them as SPCX/USD1, CL/USD1, XAU/USD1, SNDK/USD1, SKHYNIX/USD1 and MU/USD1, and add that the list is subject to change and that the campaign page carries the current version.

That mix is what makes this an RWA campaign rather than a crypto one. SPCX tracks a private-company exposure, CL is crude oil, XAU is gold, and SNDK, SKHYNIX and MU are semiconductor equities. Volume on Aster's USDT-margined crypto perps earns nothing here, which is a straightforward point to miss if you assume a site-wide campaign.

These instruments are issued by third parties and priced from third-party oracle feeds rather than by Aster, which is a different risk profile from a crypto perp on the same venue. Aster's RWA market documentation also records that these markets close: Friday from 22:00 UTC under daylight saving time or 23:00 UTC outside it, all of Saturday, and again Sunday evening, plus US public holidays. Maximum leverage is temporarily reduced an hour before off hours. A position held through a closure still accrues Open Interest Points on notional, but it cannot be adjusted while the market is shut.

Which instruments Aster carries at any moment moves quickly. The current Aster listings snapshot tracks what is live.

How are Trading Points scored?

By taker volume, at a flat rate, on eligible pairs only.

Aster's terms put taker volume at a 1x rate and maker volume at zero. Their worked example: a trader who does $10,000 of taker volume and $10,000 of maker volume finishes with 10,000 Trading Points, not 20,000.

That is the opposite of how most fee schedules push behavior. Aster charges 0% maker and a taker fee on its standard USDT perps, which normally rewards resting liquidity, and this campaign pays only the side that crosses the spread. Anyone optimizing for both at once is optimizing against themselves. How Aster's fees work covers the underlying rate card and the two discounts that stack on it.

How are Open Interest Points scored?

By notional held, sampled repeatedly and added up.

Aster captures a snapshot of open position size roughly every five minutes, twelve times an hour, and sums them directly. Size and duration both count, and neither is averaged away. Aster's worked example is a $1,000,000 position held continuously:

Close the position halfway through an hour and roughly six snapshots are captured instead of twelve, so about half the hourly points. The scoring has no concept of a position that was open but is now closed. It only ever counts what a snapshot found.

Points update hourly, and Aster states that displayed points are provisional until settlement records are final.

What does the Single Asset Mode 2x boost actually multiply?

Snapshots, not positions.

Holding a USD1-pair position in Single Asset Mode earns 2x OI Points, and the multiplier is decided independently at each snapshot based on the account mode at that instant. Aster's own examples show how narrow that is. A full hour in Single Asset Mode on a $1M position scores 24,000,000 OI Points against 12,000,000 in Multi-Asset. Switch back at the half-hour mark and six snapshots take the multiplier and six do not, for 18,000,000.

The fourth example is the useful one. A trader who switches into Single Asset Mode at 10:23 and out again at 10:27 catches one snapshot, for 13,000,000. Aster notes that snapshot timing carries a randomized offset and is not published, specifically so the schedule cannot be gamed, and that a switch made inside the wrong four-minute window can be missed entirely.

The practical reading: the boost rewards staying in the mode, not timing entry into it.

What is the USD1 collateral requirement?

A test applied at every snapshot, not once at sign-up.

In Multi-Asset Mode, USD1 must make up more than 50% of the perpetual account balance at the moment of a snapshot. At exactly 50% or below, that snapshot earns nothing at all, for either point type. In Single-Asset Mode, a position collateralized in USD1 is treated as 100% USD1 and qualifies; a position collateralized in anything else does not.

Switching between modes mid-campaign is allowed, and each snapshot is judged on the mode and the ratio in force at that time.

Subaccounts are assessed on their own perpetual account balance and accrue points independently. Rewards are also calculated per subaccount and have to be claimed from the one that earned them, so spreading positions across subaccounts splits the eligibility test as well as the balance.

How and when are rewards paid?

Pro rata within an epoch, on a formula Aster states directly:

Your reward for the epoch = Epoch reward pool × (Your points ÷ Total eligible points for the epoch)

Because the pool is fixed and split by share, a given quantity of points is worth less as more traders qualify. There is no fixed rate per point and no yield being promised, and Aster's own page carries a risk warning saying the terms describe campaign rules rather than financial advice.

Each epoch's rewards are distributed the following week, and results may take time to appear after an epoch closes. Unclaimed rewards expire two weeks after they become available to claim. That deadline is the part most worth putting in a calendar, because points that were earned correctly still lapse if nobody claims them.

Who is excluded, and what is prohibited?

Market makers enrolled in Aster's dedicated MM Program cannot earn points or rewards from this campaign.

Aster's terms prohibit hedged trading, self-trading, wash trading, market manipulation, and any other activity intended to generate points artificially, and reserve the right to adjust or deduct points, disqualify trades or accounts, and withhold rewards where abuse is suspected. Hedged trading being named alongside wash trading matters here, because opening offsetting positions to farm OI Points on both sides is the obvious way to attack a scoring model built on held notional, and it is explicitly out.

Aster also reserves the right to modify, suspend or terminate the campaign, to amend the terms, and the right of final interpretation of them. Nothing in the structure is contractually fixed for the duration.

What this campaign says about Aster's RWA push

The bigger pool by headline size is attached to Open Interest rather than to volume, so it pays for positions that stay open rather than for churn. The 2x multiplier is attached to Single Asset Mode, so it pays for USD1 sitting in the account as collateral rather than for USD1 passing through it. Neither incentive rewards the trading behavior a volume campaign usually buys.

Put next to an eligible list made up entirely of instruments Aster listed in the last two weeks, that reads as an attempt to build resting depth on new markets, which is the part of a launch a fee discount on its own does not fix.

For context on the underlying asset and the exchange token that sits behind Aster's fee mechanics, see what the ASTER token is and the wider Aster ecosystem. The exchange-token side is separate from this campaign: RWA Boost pays in WLFI and USD1, not in ASTER. WLFI's own perpetual market on Aster is covered on the WLFI market page.

Before you participate

None of these are about the reward size.

Start with the pair list on the campaign page, because Aster reserves the right to change it and everything above is a snapshot dated to the day it was read. Then check which mode the account is in and what its USD1 ratio actually is, since the test runs at every snapshot and exactly 50% in Multi-Asset Mode fails it. Know the market hours as well: RWA pairs close on weekends and US holidays, and leverage is cut an hour before the close, so a position cannot be adjusted out of trouble while the market is shut.

The last one is the easiest to lose money on by doing nothing. Rewards expire two weeks after they become claimable, per subaccount, so points earned correctly still lapse if nobody goes and claims them.

If you are new to the venue, how to trade on Aster covers wallet connection and depositing collateral first, and Aster's trading features cover margin modes and order types, both of which this campaign scores you on.

Sources & Citation

How these figures were verified

• Aster official documentation: USD1 RWA Boost Phase 1 — the campaign dates, epoch structure, the 125M WLFI and 6.25M USD1 pools, the eligible pair list, the Trading Points and OI Points scoring model, the Single Asset Mode 2x boost, the USD1 collateral ratio requirement, the distribution formula, the two-week claim window and the terms and conditions. Checked September 1, 2026.
• Aster official documentation: RWA Market — Aster's RWA trading hours, the weekend and US holiday closures, and the leverage reduction ahead of off hours. Checked September 1, 2026.

Aster revises its fee schedules, leverage caps and token mechanics regularly, so every figure here is a dated snapshot rather than a live feed. Where a number comes from Asterpedia’s own tracking rather than the documentation, it is labelled as such above.

Cite this page

Asterpedia. "Aster USD1 RWA Boost Phase 1: Rules, Points and Eligibility." Published September 1, 2026; last updated September 1, 2026. https://asterpedia.com/ecosystem/aster-usd1-rwa-boostCopy

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