XRP tokens linked to Ripple have seen a resurgence in positive discussions on social media, a trend that has historically been a contrarian indicator for price movements. The sentiment ratio, which measures the balance between positive and negative comments, reached the 'FOMO zone' on April 29, hitting 3.9 on Santiment's tracker, the highest since March 19.
This spike in sentiment ratio suggests that the crowd's commentary is overwhelmingly positive, which Santiment interprets as a contrarian signal. Historically, when social media chatter reaches such levels, the token tends to consolidate or correct in the following days as the surge in demand driven by social enthusiasm begins to wane. The recent integration of XRP with Rakuten Pay, allowing users to convert points into XRP, has contributed to the asset's second-highest bullish sentiment 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.
The market took two weeks to fully absorb the implications of this announcement, with sentiment gradually building before spiking this week. Despite the social media buzz, XRP traded at $1.37 on Thursday, down 2.1% over 24 hours and 3.7% on the week.
Santiment also noted that on March 29, XRP sentiment hit the FUD zone, and the token bounced shortly after, illustrating a pattern where crowd sentiment leads price movements by 24 to 72 hours, and crowd extremes often mark reversals rather than continuations. XRP has primarily traded between $1.37 and $1.60 throughout April, and a clean break of either side will determine whether the Rakuten integration marks the beginning of a sustained revaluation or another fleeting headline.