ETH, XRP Sentiment Turns Deeply Negative – But Could Fear Set Up a Rebound?

Cryptocurrencies went on a wild ride in September 2026, defying the traditional seasonal curse. As the market heads into the fourth quarter, Ethereum and XRP sentiment has turned sharply negative.

Santiment found that social media discussions around both altcoins are showing increasing pessimism.

Fresh Wave of Fear

Ethereum currently has 0.89 bullish comments for every bearish comment across platforms such as X, Reddit, and Telegram. This is its lowest sentiment ratio since June 7. XRP’s ratio has fallen further, as the analytics platform recorded just 0.67 bullish comments for every bearish comment. Its ratio is now at its lowest level since August 17.

A reading below 1.0 means bearish comments outweigh bullish ones. But rising fear does not always mean prices will continue to fall. Santiment stated that heavy pessimism can sometimes create a potential opportunity for contrarian traders. When most market participants expect further losses, some selling pressure may have already played out.

“This doesn’t guarantee ETH or XRP immediately bounce. But the mood is now very different from periods when everyone expected prices to keep climbing. Fear is returning while some underlying market signals remain healthy, which is exactly the kind of divergence contrarian traders typically wait patiently for.”

Whale Buying and Exchange Flows

Over the past week, Ethereum whales have scooped up 60,000 units, which is worth around $162 million. Meanwhile, Arthur Hayes expects the crypto asset to reach $10,000 by the end of the year, a huge jump from its current price near $2,700. Hayes said that his confidence in ETH is less about short-term price momentum and more about scale and security, and he believes that he can put significant capital into it without worrying about a sudden 75% loss from an exploit. For Hayes, that combination makes ETH a strong long-term bet.

XRP, on the other hand, is seeing a big wave of tokens leave exchanges. Daily outflows involving 1 million XRP or more spiked above 320 million tokens. That has caught traders’ attention because a similar spike in August was followed by a 42% jump in the asset’s price. Binance is leading the latest withdrawals. Coinbase, Upbit, Bybit, and Bitget are also witnessing large outflows. If this trend continues, there could be fewer tokens sitting on exchanges, reducing selling pressure in the market.