Aster Chain · Reading the chain

How to read an Aster Chain transaction

Every field on a transaction page, what it means, and all 13 canonical action types — PlaceOrder, CancelOrder, Deposit, UpdateOracle, and more.

7 min read·Last reviewed May 2026
13Action types
~50msFinality after submit
~0Gas fee (ASTER)
0x+64Tx hash format

Looking up a transaction

Aster Chain tx hashes are 32-byte hex strings — same format as Ethereum and BNB Chain. Paste the full hash into the AsterScan search bar and you land on /tx/{hash}.

Hash format

0x6b17a8f0c2d4e9a1b3f5c8d2e4f6a0b1c3d5e7f9…

Always starts with 0x, followed by exactly 64 hex characters.

Every field on a transaction page

FieldWhat it means
HashUnique tx identifier. Generated when the tx is signed by the sender.
BlockWhich block included this tx. Click to see all txs in the same block.
ValidatorWhich validator sealed this block. Useful for tracing provenance.
ActionThe canonical type — see the full list below.
UserAddress that signed and submitted the tx. Always public, even on privacy orders.
TimestampWhen the block was sealed. With ~50ms blocks, this is near-instant after submit.
DataDecoded payload — varies by action type. Empty for cipher orders.
FeeGas paid in ASTER. Usually 0. Trading fees (USDT %) are separate.

All 13 action types

Every Aster Chain tx is one of a small typed set — no opaque contract calls. Each action type has its own color in the AsterScan live feed.

ActionDescription
PlaceOrderSubmit a new order (limit, market, stop). Most common action by volume.
PlaceStrategyMulti-leg order (TWAP, OCO, bracket). Typically used by bots.
CancelOrderCancel a single open order by ID.
CancelOrdersCancel multiple orders in one tx (e.g. cancel-all on a symbol).
CountdownCancelAllAuto-cancel-all if no heartbeat received in X seconds. Market maker safety net.
DepositMove funds (typically USDT) into the AsterDEX account.
WithdrawWithdraw funds from AsterDEX back to wallet.
AdjustLeverageChange leverage multiplier on an open position.
ChangePositionSideSwitch between hedge mode and one-way mode for a symbol.
UpdateOracleValidator-only: push mark prices for all symbols. Not user-initiated.
ChangePrivacyModeToggle order encryption on/off for the account.
FeeBurnToggle Fee Burn mode (pay fees in ASTER at a discount, burned).
NoopNo-op heartbeat. Used by the matching engine for timing cadence.

See the live transaction stream for a real-time view of which actions are firing right now.

Privacy mode & encrypted payloads

AsterDEX supports optional privacy mode where order payloads are encrypted on-chain. The action type and sender stay public; the cipher is opened only by the matching engine.

Public (always visible)

  • • Sender address
  • • Action type (PlaceOrder)
  • • Timestamp
  • • Block / validator

Encrypted (privacy mode ON)

  • • Symbol (e.g. BTCUSDT)
  • • Side (buy / sell)
  • • Price
  • • Quantity

Post-upgrade (May 2026)

As of May 18, 2026, the resulting position is also hidden — not just the order placement. Only the wallet owner sees their own size, entry, and PnL.

Common gotchas

PlaceOrder ≠ Fill

PlaceOrder means the order was accepted into the orderbook. Fills are matched internally and don't emit per-fill on-chain events visible on AsterScan.

Rapid PlaceOrder + CancelOrder pairs

Same address placing and immediately cancelling orders is usually a market maker actively quoting — not spam. It's the normal HFT pattern on any orderbook.

UpdateOracle is infrastructure, not user activity

Validator addresses push oracle prices continuously. Filter them out if you're analyzing user behavior — they account for a large share of raw tx count but zero user volume.

Programmatic access

AsterScan exposes chain data via a public API:

/api/staking/validatorsCurrent validator set
/api/staking/epochsCurrent + next epoch metadata
/api/public/v1/networkNetwork stats: TPS, block height, privacy rate

Per-tx and per-block lookup go directly to the AsterDEX endpoints — see docs.asterdex.com.

Last reviewed May 2026.

Corrections → @aster_scan