Key takeaways AAVE drops about 6% as selling pressure builds Token loses $140 despite recent protocol expansion Traders watch $130 support and $150 recovery resistance AAVE slid roughly 6% on October 24, ranking among the weakest major DeFi tokens as selling pressure overwhelmed recent growth across its lending ecosystem. The token traded at $140.12 at 11:46 UTC, down 5.29% over 24 hours. Later readings put it near $135. The drop extends a bruising stretch for AAVE, which changed hands above $154 earlier in October. The selloff landed days after Aave expanded its institutional lending markets, reviving a familiar question for DeFi investors: how can a protocol keep growing while its governance token loses value? Why AAVE is falling AAVE's decline pushed it below several short-term technical markers, deepening the market's bearish momentum. Its 20-day moving average sits at roughly $159.53, far above the current price. The break under $140 also took the token beneath the lower Bollinger Band reference of $140.63 recorded on October 22. No confirmed protocol exploit, emergency governance decision or token-specific announcement has been identified as the cause. The weakness tracks broader cryptocurrency selling and pressure on leveraged positions, though the precise weight of each factor remains unclear. Past Aave volatility has shown that governance disputes and token prices can move on separate tracks. Lending markets expand despite the selloff The price action contrasts with recent news on the protocol's lending infrastructure. On October 22, Aave V4 launched three independently curated markets covering Ripple's RLUSD, PayPal's PYUSD and Origin's OUSD, bringing Sentora into the new architecture as an external market curator. Babylon Labs is advancing a proposal that would let users borrow stablecoins against Bitcoin held directly on its native blockchain. The initiative still requires governance approval and technical review. Neither development guarantees fresh demand for AAVE tokens. Buybacks are another consideration. Aave introduced revenue-funded token purchases in 2025 but paused them after April's rsETH disruption, an episode that triggered a sharp AAVE selloff and showed how lending risk can shake investor confidence even when a platform keeps operating. Can AAVE recover toward $150? The first hurdle is reclaiming $140, followed by the $149 to $150 zone where several moving averages converge. A sustained move above $150 would strengthen short-term momentum and bring $155 to $160 into focus, though these are conditional technical targets rather than forecasts. If selling persists, $130 becomes the key psychological level, with $120 possible on a deeper slide. Institutional analysts have sketched far higher long-term scenarios. Grayscale projects a potential $175 valuation by 2027, while Standard Chartered has published a more ambitious forecast tied to long-term DeFi adoption.