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Shield Mode on Aster
Verified against Aster's official docs on 2026-09-29. Shield Mode's fee options are also on the Aster fees page; this page covers how the mode trades.
Shield Mode is a separate way to trade on Aster, next to the order-book perps. The docs pitch it as "quicker, easier, and more streamlined", and the mechanics explain why: there is no order book to trade against. That one fact changes most of the rules below, and it is worth knowing before choosing it.
What is different from Aster's order-book perps
- Mark price equals last price. "Shield Mode does not have an order book, and thus Mark Price is equal to Last Price." The mark is a volume-weighted basket of major exchanges' prices.
- Liquidation triggers on the last price. "When the last price is less than or equal to the liquidation price of a certain position, a forced liquidation will occur."
- Isolated only. Every position is its own isolated position; "there is no option to add margin to an existing position", and hedge mode is not supported.
- Fees. The docs describe a limited-time zero-fee event on opening and closing, a profit-share option of 15% to 20% of profit (nothing on a loss; 15% on BTC and ETH), and a 0.03% flat fee option on notional.
How liquidation is calculated
The docs give the liquidation price as (size × open price − accumulated funding − initial margin × liquidation loss rate) ÷ size, signed by direction. The "liquidation rate" is the share of your margin that can be lost before liquidation, and it falls as leverage rises. For BTC and ETH: 75% from 1× to 200×, 70% from 201× to 500×, and 65% from 501× to 1001×. EURUSDT is 60% from 20× to 200×. Because funding is inside the formula, "liquidation price may change when there are any changes in the Funding Rate", and Aster says it adjusts the rates "based on market volatility and OI updates".
Slippage and funding are set by the house
With no book, Aster computes a dynamic slippage on each trade from your size, the open-interest imbalance on that symbol, and ±2% depth aggregated every 5 seconds from Binance, Coinbase, OKX, Kraken and other exchanges. A long pays more slippage when longs already outweigh shorts, and a short when shorts do. The result is rounded up to 0.01% whenever it exceeds the symbol's minimum.
Funding is not the order-book formula either. Aster "will collect a Funding fee rate to balance the Long and Short ratios", charged hourly from the long/short open-interest gap within a floor and cap it may adjust. A position closed before the hour mark pays none; one held through it does.
Markets that close
Shield Mode lists gold and silver, EUR/USDT and GBP/USDT (up to 500×), and US stock perps (up to 50×). Unlike Lighter's 24/7 RWAs, these follow their underlying hours: gold, silver and FX close from Friday evening UTC and through Saturday (the docs' tables give the exact hours, which shift with daylight saving), and stocks trade only in the regular US session. For stocks the docs say that off-hours "pricing updates will be paused and trading functions will be unavailable", and all of these close on US public holidays. On every one, maximum leverage is "temporarily reduced one hour before off hours".
FAQ
Is Shield Mode the same as 1001x?
No. Aster documents 1001x as its own product with separate fees; Shield Mode offers up to 1001× on BTC and ETH within its own rules. The 1001x fees are on the fees page.
Can I rescue a Shield Mode position by adding margin?
No, not at present. Close it or let it run; the liquidation price moves only with funding.
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