[DigitalToday reporter Yoonseo Lee] XRP has settled at the $1 level once dreamed of by past investors, but an analysis says market sentiment has instead turned cold.

On June 8 (local time), blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic said market analyst Crypto Patel said XRP investors' sentiment has changed sharply between 2017 and 2026.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Patel said XRP has risen from about $0.003 in January 2014 to a price now above $1, but investors' reactions to the same price level are the opposite. He explained that during the 2017 bull market, $1 was a key target and expectations spread across the community when XRP first exceeded that level in December 2017.

Now the situation is different. Even though XRP has returned to a range that was once a symbolic target, many investors are not satisfied, he said. Patel said the difference shows a recurring psychological trap in investing. He said the same number once seen as a dream has now become a price at which people vent dissatisfaction.

He also stressed that in terms of long-term returns, XRP remains in a sharply higher range. Patel said XRP is still about 20,000 percent higher than its January 2017 low of about $0.0054. He argued that if expectations keep rising, investors fail to feel the magnitude of long-term gains.

He also presented chart analysis. Patel said the current market structure is similar to the 2017 breakout phase and that XRP has entered a retest zone after breaking upward out of a multi-year symmetrical triangle pattern. He judged the current $0.60 to $1.00 range as an "accumulation zone".

If past moves repeat, XRP could eventually rise to the $10 level, he forecast. The chart presented that zone as a key resistance level. Based on XRP trading at about $1.12, the return would be about 793 percent if it rises to $10.

He said that if XRP enters the $10 to $20 range, the current negative market sentiment could be reassessed as one of the sceptical views that repeated near past lows. Just as early XRP buyers look back on the fractional prices of 2017 as an opportunity, current investors could also come to view today's price differently, he said.

He said the key to the analysis lies not in the price itself but in how investors' expectations have changed. Because the same $1 can be judged differently depending on the market phase and sentiment, the debate around XRP has become a case that more clearly shows shifts in investor psychology than returns.

$XRP - The Same Price, Two Completely Different Emotions: Think Back To 2017. #XRP Was Trading Around $0.003, And Every XRP Holder Had Just One Dream - "One Day This Will Hit $1." That Was The Whole Fantasy. And In December 2017, It Finally Happened. XRP Crossed $1. It Was Party… pic.twitter.com/tYx0VdujP6