The graph below is illustrated from sum of swap volume and average rune price in an hour. The data was taken from the past 30 days. From what we can see, the price shoot up from $8 to $10 when the swap volume is at $7M on 21st Oct which is when all network went back online on THORChain. So, I believe swap volume will definitely affect trading price of $RUNE.

The correlation of $RUNE price to transaction count is more obvious. We can see the FOMO-ness kicked in at second spike on 21st Oct. When $RUNE hit double digit price, we can see around 800 transaction in an hour. So, I believe $RUNE price and swap activity definitely move each other in some way.