XRP is experiencing a resurgence in positive social media chatter, a trend that has historically been a contrarian indicator for the token's price. On April 29, the token's positive-to-negative sentiment ratio on social media spiked to 3.9, the highest level since March 19, according to Santiment data. This surge in sentiment is attributed to the recent integration of XRP with Rakuten Pay, which allows users to convert their points into XRP. When sentiment ratios exceed the FOMO line, it indicates that crowd commentary is overwhelmingly positive, which Santiment views as a contrarian signal.
Historically, when social media chatter reaches these levels, the token tends to consolidate or correct in the following days as demand from buyers driving the social wave dwindles. The integration with Rakuten Pay, which went live in early April, has added XRP as a payment method across the Japanese wallet application's ecosystem, enabling an estimated 44 million Rakuten users to spend XRP at over 5 million merchant locations, trade it within the app, and convert their Rakuten points directly into XRP. XRP traded at $1.37 on Thursday, down 2.1% over 24 hours and 3.7% on the week, despite the surge in social media sentiment.
Santiment data also shows that XRP sentiment hit the FUD zone on March 29, which was followed by a price bounce. The pattern suggests that crowd sentiment leads price movements by 24 to 72 hours, and extreme crowd sentiment has often marked 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 increase or another fleeting headline.