Morpho’s recent run is getting a boost from growing institutional interest — and a high-profile new deal with Apollo has traders watching closely. What happened DeFi lending protocol and vault curator Morpho, which already landed partnerships with Bitwise and Anchorage Digital earlier in 2026, announced on Friday that asset manager Apollo can acquire up to 90 million MORPHO over the next two years. At today’s prices, that allotment is worth roughly $115.2 million (about $1.28 per token), underscoring how institutions are increasingly viewing on-chain lending infrastructure as a place to deploy capital. Mixed reaction from the industry Market insiders were split on how bullish the news truly is. Richard Galvin, CIO of Digital Asset Capital Management (DACM), saw Apollo’s move as another sign of constructive institutional momentum for the sector. By contrast, Jeff Dorman, CIO of Arca, warned the announcement was vague and cautioned against assuming Apollo is buying tokens outright. Dorman noted Apollo made a similar announcement with HASH years ago and “got tokens for free basically to announce that they were using the network.” Market response and on-chain signals Despite the skepticism, traders rewarded the update. Santiment data shows Supply on Exchanges (a proxy for potential selling pressure) remained flat after the announcement following a prior decline — a sign holders weren’t rushing to sell into the relief bounce. If exchange supply stays muted, MORPHO’s recovery has room to continue. On-chain and market structure details: - Price action: MORPHO has been consolidating between $1.00 and $1.30 since late January — a band that attracted notable whale accumulation, according to CryptoQuant. - Derivatives: Speculative open interest edged higher, moving from about $8 million to $12 million (Velo), suggesting the relief move was driven largely by spot buying rather than a derivatives squeeze. A spot-led rally tends to be more sustainable if it persists. - Short-term momentum: MORPHO rose about 12% in the past 24 hours, bringing its recent recovery to roughly 24%. Near-term upside could push the token toward $1.40 if momentum holds. A decisive breakout and a firm reclaim of the 200-day moving average near $1.65 would be a stronger technical signal and could open the way toward $2.00. The recent bounce has trimmed MORPHO’s late-2025 losses to about 40% (TradingView). Bottom line Apollo’s deal adds fuel to a narrative of increasing institutional exposure to DeFi primitives like Morpho, but ambiguity around the terms tempers some bullish interpretations. For now, flat exchange supply, whale accumulation in the $1.00–$1.30 range, and spot-led buying provide constructive proof that the token’s recovery could be sustainable — provided selling pressure doesn’t re-emerge. Disclaimer: AMBCrypto's content is informational and not investment advice. Cryptocurrency trading carries high risk; readers should do their own research before making any investment decisions. © 2026 AMBCrypto Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news