
A stock market bubble is a period of growth in stock prices followed by a fall. Typically prices rise quickly and significantly, growing far beyond their previous value in a short period of time. When they fall, they do so quickly and often below the starting value.
What is a bubble in the stock market?
Bubbles are driven in large part by investor sentiment and psychology, which generate a positive feedback loop of rising prices and additional buying. As a stock or other asset's price rises, more and more investors see the rising prices as an opportunity to profit.
Are Etoys in a stock bubble?
The story of eToys illustrates how the stages of a stock bubble typically play out. In May 1999, with the Internet revolution in full swing, eToys had a very successful initial public offering (IPO), where shares at $20 each escalated to $78 on their first trading day.
What are the five stages of a stock bubble?
Bubbles are deceptive and unpredictable, but understanding the five stages they characteristically go through can help investors prepare for them. The five steps in the lifecycle of a bubble are displacement, boom, euphoria, profit-taking, and panic.
What are the different types of market bubbles?
These bubbles can include the overall stock market, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or equities in a particular field or market sector—like Internet-based businesses, which fueled the dotcom bubble of the late 1990s. Market bubbles involve other industries or sections of the economy, outside of the equities market. Real estate is a classic example.

What causes a bubble in the stock market?
Typically, a bubble is created out of sound fundamentals, but eventually exuberant, irrational behavior takes over, and the surge is caused by speculation—buying for the sake of buying, in the hopes prices continue to rise.
How do you tell if the stock market is in a bubble?
Watch for these tell-tale signs of a stock market bubbleA story has captured the market's imagination. ... Prices rise regardless of news. ... Other asset prices are soaring, too. ... New traders say that old investors 'don't get it' ... Stock valuations in the top percentiles.
How is a stock market bubble defined quizlet?
A stock market bubble is a type of economic bubble taking place in stock markets when market participants drive stock prices above their value in relation to some system of stock valuation.
What do you know about bubbles?
A bubble is just air wrapped in soap film. Soap film is made from soap and water (or other liquid). The outside and inside surfaces of a bubble consist of soap molecules. A thin layer of water lies between the two layers of soap molecules, sort of like a water sandwich with soap molecules for bread.
What does bubble burst mean?
to say or do something that shows someone that his or her beliefs are false, or that what he or she wants to happen will not happen: He was so happy about marrying Maria Luisa, I couldn't burst his bubble. I hate to burst your bubble, but that's never going to happen.
What is a bubble in economics quizlet?
what is meant by the term "economic bubble"? - an economic cycle characterized by rapid growth followed by contraction or pop.
Which of the following is a characteristic of bubble economies?
A bubble is an economic cycle that is characterized by the rapid escalation of market value, particularly in the price of assets. This fast inflation is followed by a quick decrease in value, or a contraction, that is sometimes referred to as a "crash" or a "bubble burst."
What is considered a stock market crash?
A stock market crash is when a broad index or many related indices experience rapid, double-digit declines. There is no specific percentage decline that precisely defines a stock market crash — unlike bull and bear markets — but participants generally know one when they see one.
How do investors know when a bubble will pop?
It's very difficult to predict the timing of a bursting bubble. Economist John Maynard Keynes famously said, "Markets can remain irrational longer...
What does it mean for a stock to be overvalued?
Analysts typically use fundamental metrics , such as price-earnings ratio, price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings-to-growth ratio, price-to-free-cas...
How can I avoid losing money when a stock market bubble bursts?
There's no guaranteed way to avoid losses when a bubble bursts, but financial advisors generally recommend maintaining a diversified investment po...
What are the hallmarks of a bubble?
"A rapid price rise, high trading volume, and word-of-mouth spread are the hallmarks of typical bubbles," says Timothy R. Burch, an Associate Professor of Finance at the Miami Herbert Business School. "If you learn of an investment opportunity with dreams of unusually high profits from social media or friends, be particularly wary—in most cases, you’ll need uncanny timing to come out ahead."
What is bubble in economics?
The term "bubble," in an economic context, generally refers to a situation where the price for something—an individual stock, a financial asset, or even an entire sector, market, or asset class —exceeds its fundamental value by a large margin. Because speculative demand, rather than intrinsic worth, fuels the inflated prices, ...
What is the damage caused by a bubble?
The damage caused by the bursting of a bubble depends on the economic sector (s) involved, whether the extent of participation is widespread or localized, and to what extent debt fueled the investments that inflated the bubble. The term "bubble," in an economic context, generally refers to a situation where the price for something—an individual ...
What are the four types of bubbles?
Financial bubbles, aka asset bubbles or economic bubbles, fit into four basic categories: stock market bubbles, market bubbles, credit bubbles, and commodity bubbles. Bubbles are deceptive and unpredictable, but understanding the five stages they characteristically go through can help investors prepare for them.
What are the steps of the lifecycle of a bubble?
The five steps in the lifecycle of a bubble are displacement, boom, euphoria, profit-taking, and panic. The damage caused by the bursting of a bubble depends on the economic sector (s) involved, whether the extent of participation is widespread or localized, and to what extent debt fueled the investments that inflated the bubble. ...
What are some examples of credit bubbles?
Specific examples of assets include corporate bonds or government bonds (like US Treasuries), student loans, or mortgages.
Who was the first to explain the development of financial instability and the relationship it has with the economy?
Economist Hyman P. Minsky was one of the first to explain the development of financial instability and the relationship it has with the economy. In his pioneering book Stabilizing an Unstable Economy (1986), he identified five stages in a typical credit cycle, one of several recurrent economic cycles.
What is a stock market bubble?
What is the Stock Market Bubble? Stock Market Bubble is the phenomena where the prices of the stock of the companies do not reflect the fundamental position of the company and because of this, there is a divide between the real economy and the financial economy caused either due to irrational exuberance of the market participants ...
Why do stocks bubble?
This is one of the most important reasons that lead to stock market bubbles because this is the reason why the gorge between the financial and real economy widens. When the market participants are not ready to accept the challenges that the real economy is facing and are still buying the stocks of companies that are underperforming in an expectation that they will gain when these companies do well, it leads to inflation in stock prices and creates a bubble.
What happens when the bubble inflates beyond the threshold?
Crash of Market: As explained above, there comes a time when the bubble inflates beyond the threshold, and even a tiny pin poke can burst it, leading to a crash in the market when wealth is eroded completely, stocks lose all their value, and the economy goes into recessions.
What was the most popular bubble in the twentieth century?
One of the most popular bubbles in the history of the twentieth century is the crash of Wall Street in 1929, following which the great depression occurred. This was the time when the NYSE stocks crashed, leading to erosion of wealth for scores of investors; this crash followed the crash in London Stock Exchange and led to the starting of the Great Depression.
Why do stock prices get affected?
The prices of securities traded on the stock market get affected by various reasons such as the introduction of a liberal governmental regulation or expansionary measures undertaken by the central bank of the country, such as the reduction in the policy rate by the federal reserve. Such measures encourage people to take out money ...
What is a stock market bubble?
A stock market bubble is a period of growth in stock prices followed by a fall. Typically prices rise quickly and significantly, growing far beyond their previous value in a short period of time. When they fall, they do so quickly and often below the starting value. A stock market bubble can affect either the market as a whole or specific sectors, ...
How does a stock market bubble happen?
They typically occur when investors overvalue stocks, either misjudging the value of the underlying companies or trading based on criteria unrelated to that value.
Why does the market not pop like a bubble?
A growing market will not pop like a bubble because, ultima tely, the assets have inherent value. During a selloff traders have as much incentive to hold on to their stocks as to unload them.
What happens during a selloff?
During a selloff traders have as much incentive to hold on to their stocks as to unload them. This causes selling to hit a natural floor and disrupts the negative feedback loop that characterizes the second stage of a stock market bubble. Bubbles are not the same thing. Essence of a Bubble.
What was the impact of the 1929 stock market crash?
Trading no longer became about capitalizing on gains with borrowed money. It became about mitigating losses on debts the traders couldn’t afford to pay. So investors began to sell, hoping to limit their debts.
What is the difference between a stock market bubble and an economic bubble?
The key difference between a stock market bubble and economic growth is the series of incentives driving prices. In the stock market, growth is marked by trading based on underlying business fundamentals. The price of a stock should approximately reflect the value of owning that particular company.
Why don't traders buy stocks?
Eventually traders aren’t buying the given stocks because they think the company is worth owning at that price. They’re buying in hopes of selling while the price is still high. This leads to a cycle of trading based on criteria that has nothing to do with the fundamentals of the companies being traded.
How do bubbles form in the stock market?
A bubble in the stock market can form when investors bid up the prices of stocks on pure speculations. The underlying market conditions, economics, and political environment don't support the stock market enthusiasm. In this environment, people are willing to pay much more for stocks than their earnings and revenue potential justifies. ...
Why do bubbles burst?
A bubble usually bursts when there's a drastic change in expectations. Investors have been exuberant following stocks’ huge run and the stock market’s all-time high net margins in the first quarter. However, as inflation picks up the pace (which it already is) and Fed adjusts its policies to reflect higher inflation expectations, ...
What did Grantham say about the stock market?
Grantham has also sounded similar alarm bells earlier in the year regarding the stock market. He described the market as a “fully fledged epic bubble” in January. Grantham also mentioned that when the market reaches this level of super-enthusiasm, the bubble always bursts in the next few months.
What is the S&P 500 profit margin for 2021?
While the S&P 500 net profit margin for the first quarter of 2021 was at an all-time high of 12.8 percent, it's expected to decline going forward. According to FactSet's consensus, the margin should decline to 11.7 percent in the second quarter. Higher inflation will show up in stock prices too and they will decline.
When did the S&P 500 have its strongest week?
The S&P 500 had its strongest week since February for the week ending June 27. The obvious disconnect between the economic reality and the stock market has led many market experts to warn of a stock market crash.
Who are the big shorts who are expecting a market downturn?
Michael Burry and Jeremy Grantham have more dire warnings and see the market crashing, while Leon Cooperman, Jeffrey Gundlach, and Stanley Druckenmiller are expecting a market downturn. “The Big Short” fame Burry, in particular, has been quite vocal about the impending market crash.
Answer
A bubble is an economic cycle characterized by the rapid escalation of asset prices followed by a contraction. It is created by a surge in asset prices unwarranted by the fundamentals of the asset and driven by exuberant market behavior.
New questions in History
Which descriptions apply to Mendel’s pea plant experiments? Select three options. studied first generation plants only relied on random pollination a …
When did the tech bubble start?
The “Tech bubble”, and resulting stock market crash, which began in 2000 and continued until 2002, is also known as the Dotcom bubble, Dotcom crash, Dotcom boom, internet bubble, and 2000 stock crash. Like all major crashes, prices first rose then fell. Prices were already rising in the mid to late-90’s, but buying accelerated in late 1998.
What happened to technology stocks in the 2000 crash?
For many people who bought technology stocks, even a large basket of them, most of their capital was wiped out in the 2000 crash.
What does it mean when an index rises?
When you see an index rising, it only includes the stocks that have survived and thrived. The indexes you hear about the news, like the Dow Jones Industrial or S&P 500, don’t contain stocks that are doing poorly or went bust. The indexes regularly change to include only the best.

Explanation
How Does It Work?
- Following are the steps of the eruption and inflation of the stock market bubble: You are free to use this image on your website, templates etc, Please provide us with an attribution linkHow to Provide Attribution?Article Link to be Hyperlinked For eg: Source: Stock Market Bubble(wallstreetmojo.com) The above image shows the steps in the bubble formation process…
Example of The Stock Market Bubble
- One of the most popular bubbles in the history of the twentieth century is the crash of Wall Street in 1929, following which the great depression occurred. This was when the NYSE stocks crashed, le...
- WWI had just ended, and there was over-optimism in the population, which was migrating to urban areas to find high-paying work in the industrial expansion. There was very high specula…
- One of the most popular bubbles in the history of the twentieth century is the crash of Wall Street in 1929, following which the great depression occurred. This was when the NYSE stocks crashed, le...
- WWI had just ended, and there was over-optimism in the population, which was migrating to urban areas to find high-paying work in the industrial expansion. There was very high speculation, leading...
- Bankers gave easy credit that fundamentals couldn’t back. The Dow Jones industrial average was still climbing greater heights. These were signals that the bubble had inflated way too much and would...
Consequences of Stock Market Bubble
- Crash of Market:As explained above, there comes a time when the bubble inflates beyond the threshold, and even a tiny pin poke can burst it, leading to a crash in the market when wealth is eroded c...
- Recession: As the market crashes, it becomes explicit that the economy has not been doing well for a while, and therefore, recession sets in, people get laid off, and austerity measures s…
- Crash of Market:As explained above, there comes a time when the bubble inflates beyond the threshold, and even a tiny pin poke can burst it, leading to a crash in the market when wealth is eroded c...
- Recession: As the market crashes, it becomes explicit that the economy has not been doing well for a while, and therefore, recession sets in, people get laid off, and austerity measures set in. It...
- Widespread Discontent: When the economy doesn’t do well, people’s savings get eaten up, and the future starts looking bleak, people lose hope and motivation leading to instability in the economy.
How to Spot Stock Market Bubble?
- Yield curve analysisYield Curve AnalysisA yield curve is a plot of bond yields of a particular issuer on the vertical axis (Y-axis) against various tenors/maturities on the horizontal axis (X-axis). The slope of the yield curve provides an estimate of expected interest rate fluctuations in the future and the level of economic activity.read more is a popular tool for analyzing the economic situati…
Conclusion
- We can say that the market participants need to be aware of the sector’s performance before increasing their investments in any sector. Suppose the divide between the financial and real economy is not taken care of promptly. In that case, a bubble is inevitable, and so is a crash because once the bubble is too large, no monetary or fiscal measures can stop it from bursting.
Recommended Articles
- This article has guided what Stock Market Bubble and its definition is. Here we discuss how to spot the stock market bubble and an example, chart, and causes. You can learn more about it from the following articles – 1. Stock Market Books 2. Equity Market 3. Black Tuesday 4. Boom and Bust Cycles