XRP tokens, linked to Ripple, have regained positive traction on social media, a trend that has historically been a contrarian indicator for price movements. The positive-to-negative sentiment ratio for XRP spiked into the FOMO zone on April 29, peaking at 3.9 on Santiment's tracker, the highest reading since March 19. This spike was followed by a sharp pullback, consistent with the pattern where overly positive crowd sentiment precedes consolidation or correction as demand from buyers driving the social trend dries up.
The recent integration of XRP with Rakuten Pay, allowing users to convert points into XRP, has contributed to the second-highest bullish sentiment for the asset on social media in the past two years. This integration, which went live in early April, enables an estimated 44 million Rakuten users to spend XRP at over 5 million merchant locations, trade it within the Rakuten Pay app, and convert their Rakuten points directly into XRP.
Despite the social media buzz, XRP traded at $1.37 on Thursday, down 2.1% over 24 hours and 3.7% on the week. Historical patterns suggest that crowd sentiment leads price movements by 24 to 72 hours, with extremes in sentiment often marking reversals rather than continuations. XRP has been trading between $1.37 and $1.60 for most of April, and a clean break of either side will determine whether the Rakuten integration marks the start of a sustained price re-rating or another fleeting headline.