An 8-Month Low in Mood
Crypto data intelligence firm Santiment said XRP’s weighted sentiment, a measure that blends social volume with the ratio of positive to negative commentary, is now sitting at its lowest level since October 2025. The reading marks an eight-month low and reflects a crowd that has, in the firm’s words, “felt enough blows.”
Santiment tied the gloom to fatigue rather than a single event, citing that traders have grown weary of waiting for a major catalyst despite years of anticipation around Ripple’s legal clarity and institutional adoption. Falling discussion volume, paired with overwhelmingly negative commentary, suggests that many participants have already lowered their expectations or moved on entirely.
The prevailing market mood seems to be in line with the aforementioned chart, given that XRP has fallen about 38% in 2026 and recently changed hands near $1.13, leaving the psychologically important $1 level within a normal weekly swing. Bitcoin.com News reported that XRP fell sharply recently as traders braced for a deeper sell-off, eventually resulting in a slide to around $1.09.
Other data logged the same bleed as XRP dropped 4.5% earlier this week and heavy selling broke another support level, following a liquidation-driven slide that pushed the token toward $1.10. Forced selling has amplified the move, with XRP seeing about $25.64 million in liquidations over 24 hours, with long positions accounting for roughly 96% of the total.
Sector-Wide, Not XRP-Specific
The price weakness has not been confined to XRP alone as the sector at large has been struggling over the past month and a half. For instance, Bitcoin is down about 30% and ether roughly 45% year-to-date, confirming a market-wide drawdown rather than a Ripple-specific collapse.
Regardless, Ripple, the company behind XRP, has continued to build, recently tapping its RLUSD stablecoin to fund clean-water projects. The logic is that sustained ledger usage, tokenization, and institutional product development will help allay volatility fears even as market conditions change or social-media enthusiasm fades.
Lastly, it bears mentioning that Santiment has offered a contrarian caveat to XRP’s ongoing dip, suggesting that some of XRP’s strongest rebounds have come precisely when its backers grew most disinterested, though weak sentiment alone does not guarantee a reversal.
Traders are now watching whether buyers can defend the $1.10–$1.12 zone and reclaim $1.13. A failure there risks a slide toward $1.00, or the $0.80–$0.90 area below it. For the time being, XRP’s mood and its price are both testing how much patience holders have left.
