Aave (AAVE) is 3.1× the size of PancakeSwap (CAKE) by market capitalisation. Over the past 1 year, CAKE is ahead by 22.7 percentage points (CAKE -7.3% against AAVE -29.9%). Their daily returns move loosely together (correlation 0.54 across 399 shared trading days). Both have run at a similar volatility, around 84% annualised.
CAKEAAVE
0.54over 399 shared trading days
Measured on daily returns rather than on prices. Two assets that both simply trend upward score near 1.0 on raw prices whether or not they move together, so returns are what answer the question people mean by correlation.
| Metric | CAKE | AAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Max drawdown (400d) | -73.4% | -79.5% |
| Risk-adjusted return (90d) | 0.61 | 0.51 |
| Best 30 days (past year) | +65.1% | +56.3% |
| Worst 30 days (past year) | -38.0% | -42.7% |
Relative strength over 90 days: AAVE outperformed CAKE by 2.2% — measured on the CAKE/AAVE ratio, so it holds regardless of market direction.