AAVE pushed toward $190 on Oct. 2 as futures volume jumped to roughly $1.09 billion. The move follows Aave V4 crossing $1 billion in deposits, a DAO buyback program, fresh whale buying, and a short squeeze that forced bearish positions out of the market.
AAVE traded around $185–$186 on Oct. 2, gaining roughly 13% over 24 hours and more than 26% over seven days. Futures volume reached approximately $1.09 billion, while open interest climbed to about $535 million.
Aave V4 crosses $1 billion in deposits
The rally is not running on price action alone. Aave Labs reported on Oct. 1 that Aave V4 surpassed $1 billion in deposits during September and expanded to Arc and Base. That Base deployment introduced an Equities Hub where eligible users outside the U.S. can deposit seven Coinbase-tokenized U.S. stocks — including Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla — as collateral for USDC borrowing, with Chainlink supplying the on-chain pricing feed.
Tokenomics add a second layer to the story. The Aave DAO currently runs a buyback program with a $50 million annual budget, purchasing between $250,000 and $1.75 million of AAVE weekly depending on market conditions. Traders are also pricing in a possible token-burning mechanism under Aavenomics, though no formal burn proposal or schedule has been established.
Whale buying and a short squeeze compound the move
On-chain activity backs the rally up. Santiment data shows one whale purchased 39,018 AAVE worth about $6.3 million from Kraken, while two other addresses converted approximately $4.26 million of WBTC into 25,502 AAVE. The same tracking shows a sharp rise in whale transactions above $100,000, alongside a rising Mean Coin Age and a recovering 30-day MVRV.
Derivatives appear to be amplifying the move too. Coinglass data shows roughly $3.82 million in AAVE liquidations over 24 hours, of which approximately $3.26 million came from shorts, a short squeeze that likely added compulsory buying on top of organic demand.
Chart points to $190 and $200 as next barriers
Technically, AAVE has extended well beyond its major moving averages, posting higher highs since its September recovery around $120, culminating in a spike toward $188. The RSI is approaching overbought territory, and AAVE has risen more than 100% over 90 days. $190 is the immediate resistance level, followed by $200, while the former breakout zone around $170–$175 is the first support to watch on a pullback.
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