AAVE Whales Shed Nearly 1 Million Tokens as Exchange Reserves Flip Bearish

Aave (AAVE) exchange reserves have climbed to 2.23 million tokens, rising from 2.07 million since early February, as multiple whale cohorts reduce their holdings.

Binance now holds roughly 1.63 million AAVE, up from 1.57 million over the same period. This trend indicates that a growing number of tokens are being moved onto exchanges, adding concerns about near-term sell-side pressure.

Whale Distribution Accelerates Across Holder Groups

Notably, the shift has pushed reserves back above their 90-day moving average, ending a declining trend that had been in place since April 2025.

AAVE Exchange Reserves. Source: X/Darkfost

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Meanwhile, wallet-level data from Santiment paints a broader picture of distribution. Whales holding between 100,000 and 1 million AAVE have reduced their collective positions from 7.45 million to 6.49 million tokens since late February. That amounts to a net sell-off of roughly 960,000 AAVE.

The 10,000–100,000 token cohort tells a similar story. While this group initially accumulated through late February, the trend reversed in mid-March. Holders offloaded approximately 140,000 AAVE, bringing collective holdings down from 3.74 million to 3.6 million.

Another large holder group, wallets with between 1 million and 10 million tokens, saw holdings rise from 2.58 million to approximately 3 million AAVE by March. However, that cohort has since plateaued, showing no significant new accumulation.

AAVE Hits Lowest Price Level Since October Crash

The on-chain weakness coincides with contributor departures that have rattled investor confidence. The analyst noted that market sentiment around Aave “is currently rather negative.” Thus, investors appear to be capitulating or locking in remaining gains.

“Aave has recently faced several structural challenges, pushing the protocol into a negative spiral that led it to lose the important psychological threshold of $100 during March. Several internal disagreements followed a sequence of events within the protocol, including the departure of key contributors such as BGD Labs, and more recently Chaos Labs,” analyst Darkfost wrote.

However, he stressed that the trend is playing out against a wider market backdrop that remains unsupportive for holding altcoins.

According to BeInCrypto Markets data, on April 7, the AAVE token slipped to an intraday low of $85.05, marking its lowest level since the October crash.

At press time, the altcoin traded near $95, lifted roughly 2% alongside the broader crypto market following news of a two-week US-Iran ceasefire.