In crypto trading, timing is everything and can be the difference between huge profits or disappointing losses. This was made quite clear recently when a crypto whale pocketed $1.8 million in profits from Aave (AAVE) trades but left a staggering $10.9 million on the table due to a poorly timed exit.

The whale, identified by the wallet address “0xfc0,” accumulated 43,885 AAVE tokens over three months before later selling them.

A Costly Mistake in Timing

Blockchain data shared by Spot on Chain shows that, between August 23 and November 27, the whale bought the tokens at an average price of $145.90 each. It means they spent about $6.4 million in the whole exercise, later staking the assets on Aave to earn rewards.

However, on March 20, the whale unstaked 44,765 AAVE and transferred them to Binance at $183.27 per token, earning $8.2 million and putting them $1.8 million in profit.

However, despite the 28% gain, the move cost the trader a much larger windfall. According to Spot on Chain, had they sold the stash at AAVE’s December highs, when one token changed hands for upwards of $380, they would have realized a $10.9 million windfall.

Meanwhile, another large investor recently moved 43,500 AAVE worth around $7.48 million to FalconX after being inactive for four months. On-chain data shows that this particular whale holds 67,426 coins valued at approximately $11.61 million, with total profits of $12.72 million, marking an 88.4% increase in the value of their investment.

AAVE Price Performance

Earlier in the month, AAVE’s value shot up 26% to $220 after the lending platform’s decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) announced a proposal to redistribute net excess revenue to the ecosystem’s key contributors.

However, the token has shed off much of the gains made at that time, with its current price standing at $177.91. While it is up 4.1% in the last 24 hours, it remains almost 30% lower than it was a month ago.

In addition, even though AAVE has climbed 4.2% in the last seven days, it has been underwhelming compared to the rest of the crypto market, which has gained 6% in that period.

Looking at exchange activity, Binance has led AAVE trading, handling more than 11% of its volume in the previous 24 hours, amounting to $44.27 million.

Compared to its all-time high of $661.69 achieved in May 2021, the asset is still 73.1% below its peak. In contrast, its price right now is a 583.4% improvement on its all-time low, set five years ago.