3. Fads, Fashions, and Bubbles

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.”

—Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

There is always a growth industry of tomorrow—whether it becomes the hot industry of today is another issue altogether. The hallowed halls of innovation are littered with the wreckage of innovative companies and even entire industries that failed to take off or took off but failed to stay aloft. Despite the promise of success reflected in the stock price or in the pitch to investors, some companies are just not able to hold on and maintain their value, let alone increase it.

The perception of value ...

Get An Inside Look at Trading in Today's Markets (Collection) now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.