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A Guide to 2021’s Bizarro Markets and Wild Investing Trends

Why is finance so weird right now? Here’s how to make sense of meme stocks, Dogecoin, SPACs, NFTs, and more.

Alex Dalenberg

Read when you’ve got time to spare.

What is even happening with money right now? In January, amateur investors introduced the world to the idea of “meme stocks,” bidding up shares in struggling brick-and-mortar video game retailer Gamestop not because it was a good company, but because it was hilarious. Meanwhile, investors have been spending millions on digital GIFs, images, and videos known as NFTs. In April, Dogecoin—a cryptocurrency that was started in 2013 as a joke—somehow became valued higher than Ford Motor Company.

To make sense of it all, we’ve curated some of the best financial writing attempting to explain why markets and investors have seemingly gone bonkers.

From Crypto Art to Trading Cards, Investment Manias Abound

Each market frenzy seems crazier than the last. But all have the same roots.

You're Not Crazy. Money Is.

Welcome to the non-fungible, memeified, cryptodenominated, degenerate future of finance.

GME, Doge, Supreme: How Getting Rich Went Full Internet

The idea has always been that value—in stocks, art, precious metals, whatever—is inextricably tied to “fundamentals.” But it seems the internet changed that (hello, GME and Dogecoin!). Felix Salmon explains that if you want to understand finance now, you’d be better off studying Supreme than an annual report.

How Robinhood Made Trading Easy—and Maybe Even Too Hard to Resist

Is the app that brought zero-commission trades and a mobile-first design to millions of investors too good at what it does?

The Craziest Market I’ve Ever Seen

On meme stocks, dogecoin, and jokes as an investment.

Yeah, I Bought Some Dogecoin Today

If the financial and crypto markets are going to be so dumb, count me in.

Could Index Funds Be ‘Worse Than Marxism’?

The stock market has had quite a year. But economists and policy makers are worried that the Vanguard model of passive investment is hurting markets.