Crypto analyst Darkfost has highlighted reasons why the XRP price could soon witness a bullish reversal and potentially reach new local highs. This comes amid bearish sentiment in the market, which on-chain analytics platform Santiment said could set the stage for a reversal in the altcoin’s price.
Why The XRP Price Could Soon See A Bullish Reversal
In a CryptoQuant blog post, Darkfost stated that negative funding rates signal a potential XRP price reversal. The analyst noted that the altcoin is currently trading around 47% below its all-time high (ATH) set in July last year. Furthermore, the altcoin is said to have naturally entered a phase of distribution and correction after a gain of over 600% since November 2024.
Darkfost assured that this type of movement is healthy after such a strong rally for the price. He further remarked that what stands out is the timing of the bearish consensus, as it did not form at the top but rather during a drawdown of more than 50%. Now, there are predominantly short positions on XRP, with funding rates on Binance mostly negative since December, indicating that leveraged short positions have the upper hand.
The analyst noted that historically, the market tends to move against a late consensus. As such, while the accumulation of shorts creates short-term selling pressure, it also builds latent buying pressure. Darkfost said that if the XRP price starts to rise, these short positions could be liquidated, fueling the upward move.
He revealed that a similar pattern has occurred for the token price since 2024. The first was between August and September 2024, and the second was during the April 2025 correction, when funding rates turned negative for a period before a bullish rebound occurred. The analyst stated that this price rebound was due to a shift in investor sentiment and funding rates returning to positive territory.
A Rally Starter For XRP
In an X post, Santiment stated that XRP traders are showing major FUD, which they claimed is usually a rally starter for the XRP price. The on-chain analytics platform revealed that the altcoin has fallen into ‘Extreme Fear’ territory, with small retail traders becoming pessimistic about the token after a 19% decline from its recent high on January 5th.
Santiment noted that historically, this level of bearish commentary has led to price rallies. This is based on the belief that prices move in the opposite direction to retail’s expectations more often than not. The altcoin has dropped again following the recent decline in the broader crypto market, led by Bitcoin. BTC fell below $87,000 yesterday on the back of U.S. political tensions, government shutdown risk, and ahead of this week’s FOMC meeting.
At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $1.88, down in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
