XRP tokens, linked to Ripple, have seen a resurgence in positive discussions on social media, a phenomenon that has often preceded a reversal in the token's price. The ratio of positive to negative sentiment on social media surged into what Santiment refers to as the "FOMO zone" on April 29, peaking at 3.9 on the firm's tracker.
This reading is the highest since March 19, when a similar spike was followed by a sharp decline. Historically, when sentiment ratios exceed the FOMO threshold, crowd commentary becomes overwhelmingly positive, which Santiment interprets as a contrarian signal.
In such cases, the token tends to consolidate or correct in the following days as the buyers driving the social wave exhaust their demand. The trigger for this surge appears to be the integration of XRP with Rakuten Pay, allowing users to convert their points into XRP.
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 excitement, XRP traded at $1.37 on Thursday, down 2.1% over 24 hours and 3.7% on the week. Santiment also noted that XRP sentiment had previously hit the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) zone on March 29, after which the token bounced back. The pattern suggests that crowd sentiment leads price movements by 24 to 72 hours, and extremes in crowd sentiment often mark reversals rather than continuations.
XRP has largely traded between $1.37 and $1.60 throughout April, and a clean break of either side will determine whether the Rakuten integration marks the start of a sustained re-rating or another fleeting headline.