XRP’s Sentiment Turns Bullish, But What Is Stopping a Price Breakout?

XRP’s (XRP) sentiment on social media has risen sharply over the last few days, but overhead resistance at $1.40 kept the price in consolidation.

Key takeaways:

• XRP’s social media sentiment has risen 240% over the last 30 days to a two-year high.
• XRP price recovery may face resistance at $1.40, with a prolonged consolidation likely.

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XRP sentiment jumps on integration with Rakuten Pay 

News of XRP’s integration with the Japanese payment platform, Rakuten Wallet, has sparked renewed optimism among investors. 

Related: XRP set for ‘strongest’ 2026 monthly ETF inflows as bulls target $2

This integration allows Rakuten’s over 44 million users to convert their loyalty points (worth over $23 billion) directly into XRP, trade it in-app, and spend it at over 5 million merchant locations via the Rakuten Pay app. 

This marks “one of the largest retail deployments of $XRP as a payment method to date,” bridging loyalty programs, payments, and crypto utility in a major world economy, Ripple said in an X post on Thursday.

XRP integrates with Rakuten Pay. Source: Ripple

As a result, XRP saw its “2nd highest bullish sentiment across social media in the past 2 years,” Santiment said in a Thursday post on X. 

Santiment’s Positive/Negative sentiment indicator, which measures the ratio of positive to negative social media mentions for a cryptoasset, shows XRP has a score of 3.9, levels last seen in early 2024.

This was more than 240% higher than the 1.135 value recorded on March 29, following a 20% price drop over two weeks. 

Traders are showing excitement over the fact that XRP is “seeing further adoption,” the onchain data provider said, adding:

“As far as price goes, these events don’t often instantly lead to major price outbreaks. It is usually after the initial wave of euphoria, after FOMO calms down, that the impact of this kind of news sees the bullish outcome.”

XRP’s Positive/Negative sentiment metric. source: Santiment

“Buy $XRP with points. Spend it across millions of merchants in Japan,” analyst John Squire said in reaction to the development, adding:

“This is what mass adoption looks like.”

Following this news, XRP/USD jumped 2% over the last 24 hours, but remains 62% below its $3.66 multi-year high reached in July 2025. 

XRP faces stiff resistance above $1.40

XRP’s recent 18% rally from its local low at $1.27 reached on April 5 was stopped at $1.48, coinciding with the upper boundary of a symmetrical triangle. 

This trend line has suppressed the price since early February, as shown in the chart below. 

Bulls must push the price above the $1.40-$1.45 resistance zone to confirm a bullish breakout from the triangle. This area is also where the 50-day exponential moving average, the 100-day simple moving average and the upper trend line of the triangle sit, reinforcing the significance of this resistance zone.

XRP/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

According to XRP’s cost-basis distribution data, investors hold approximately 2 billion XRP at an average cost of $1.40-$1.45, creating a potential resistance zone. This concentration suggests many investors may sell at break-even, potentially stalling XRP’s upward momentum.

XRP cost basis distribution chart. Source: Glassnode

A break above this supply area could open the way for a rally toward the measured target of the triangle at $2.10, about 50% above the current price. 

In a Friday post on X, analyst ChartNerd said a big move was brewing for XRP price once resistance above $1.40 is “cleared.”

As Cointelegraph reported, the XRP/USD pair was required to hold the $1.27 support and rise above the moving averages around $1.40 to signal a trend change. 

This article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trades carry risk; readers are encouraged to conduct independent research.