Lending protocols benefit greatly from risk appetite, as the yields for lenders improve as as borrowing increases without regard of the interest rates for loans.

$AAVE $COMP $MKR (rebranded as SKY) thrive in volatile times simply because traders need to borrow money for leveraged positions.

In times of mania with high risk-on appetite, or crises, while day-traders eat each other alive in the collective price discovery war, being a lender is certainly safer than being a borrower.

Their resilience makes accumulation lengthy but it pays off as they bounce back faster than any other utility token.

AAVE reached 16B USD loan volume in June 2025.

20250703
A come back of liquidity means more borrowing, i.e higher interests for loans with substantial volumes.
APR for most tokens have spiked this last days, the bullrun argument gains momentum as BTC recovered to 110K.
Again leveraged positions are established out of pure enthusiasm disregarding risk, and lenders can charge higher interest driving loans higher.

20250606
AAVE ~250
MKR ~1800
COMP ~45

20250619 until July
Geopolitical issues (uncertainty on trade tariffs, and war) dampened risk appetite.

20250709
"Official data" reports that Aave's net deposits have reached a historic high of 45B USD.
That might be fueling part of the rally. Afterall, most trading volume is concentrated on derivatives, which are leveraged products whose liquidity have to come from somewhere.