AAVE has shown signs of large accumulation despite the aftermath of a major hack that triggered significant outflows and a sharp price drop.

This activity emerged following the hack at KelpDAO's rsETH bridge on April 18, which reportedly resulted in AAVE incurring approximately $196 million in bad debt.

AAVE is seeing increased whale activity in the wake of the KelpDAO hack.

The KelpDAO incident has shaken market confidence across the DeFi sector. According to DefiLlama data, AAVE's total value locked (TVL) has dropped from $26.39 billion to $15.6 billion, a decline of over $10 billion.

On-chain flows indicate that depositors are moving funds from AAVE to its competing lending protocol, Spark, which has seen its TVL increase by over $880 million during the same period, reaching $4.7 billion.

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Despite this dip, the market structure hints at significant changes beneath the surface. The key indicator, Spot Average Order Size, has started to rise, measuring the average execution amount in spot trades.

"When the figures for 'whale large orders' are high, it indicates active participation from large investors who are taking positions without being shaken by noise." – Analyst Moreno

Analysts noted that in previous instances of concentrated whale spot orders, AAVE aligned with local or market bottoms. The same pattern has been observed during the 2022 bear market low, mid-2023 correction phase, and subsequent corrections in early 2024 and 2025.

While these ranges did not imply immediate reversals, they coincided with periods of "asymmetric risk/reward environments."

Additionally, sentiment indicators are showing the worst levels since the 2022 bear market. This means that social media sentiment data indicates extreme fear.

"Currently, AAVE is trading in the $90-$100 range, with fear indicators nearing their highest levels since the 2022 bear market, and whale order sizes are surging again. The '?' marked on the chart indicates that the outcome is still uncertain. Historically, smart money has moved in this range. While this pattern doesn't necessarily indicate a bottom, it deserves attention." – Analyst

However, the outcome remains uncertain. AAVE's trajectory depends on resolving the $196 million deficit and whether large trades continue in the $85-$95 range. If large trades remain concentrated, it could resemble past accumulation phases.

At this point, the market shows a mix of retail investor-driven outflows and strategic entries from large investors.

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