The concepts, in the real world.
Theory is easy to nod along to and hard to apply.
These cases highlight the moments the market tested it for real: the booms, the busts, the frauds, and the famous trades, each one taken apart with primary sources and a clear view of what happened and why it mattered.
Every study shows the IWP Concepts at work and links to every idea it touches, so you watch the same principles you are learning play out with real money on the line.
The 2008 Oil Price Spike
2008 oil spike: how crude rocketed to a record $147.27 a barrel in July 2008, then crashed below $40 by December. See what drove…
The 2013 Bitcoin Bubble
2013 Bitcoin bubble explained: two booms took BTC from about $13 to a spike near $266, then above $1,100, before a long crash…
The 2017 Crypto and ICO Bubble
2017 crypto bubble explained: Bitcoin ran from near $1,000 to $19,783, ICOs raised billions, then prices collapsed about 80% into…
The 3D-Printing Stock Bubble (2012-2015)
3D printing stock bubble explained: how 3D Systems, Stratasys, ExOne and Voxeljet soared on additive-manufacturing hype, then…
The AI Stock Boom (2023-2024)
AI stock boom explained: how ChatGPT, Nvidia's data-center surge, and Magnificent Seven concentration reshaped the S&P 500, and…
The Baltic Dry Shipping Bubble (2007-2009)
Baltic Dry Index bubble: how dry-bulk freight soared to a record 11,793 in May 2008, then crashed about 94% to 663 by December.…
The Beanie Babies Bubble (1995-1999)
Beanie Babies bubble explained: how Ty Inc engineered scarcity, why early eBay flippers paid hundreds for a $5 plush, and how the…
The British Bicycle Mania (1895-1898)
Bicycle mania swept 1890s Britain as cycle shares trebled then fell 73 percent. Learn how Dunlop, promoter Ernest Terah Hooley,…
The BRIC and Emerging-Markets Mania (2007)
BRIC mania saw money flood emerging-market funds from 2003 to 2007 on the BRIC story, then the 2008 crash sank the MSCI EM index…
The British Canal Mania (1790-1797)
Canal Mania gripped 1790s Britain as canal shares soared then crashed when war and a credit crunch hit in 1793. Learn how…
The Cannabis Stock Bubble (2017-2019)
Cannabis stock bubble explained: how Canada's 2018 legalization drove Tilray to a $300 intraday spike, sparked a $4B…
The 2007 Chinese Stock Bubble
China stock bubble 2007: how the Shanghai Composite surged past 6,124, PetroChina topped $1 trillion, and the index then crashed…
The Chinese Garlic Bubble (2009-2011)
Chinese garlic bubble explained: how stimulus liquidity, a supply cut, and a swine-flu rumor sent prices up tens of times in a…
The 1990s Comic-Book Speculation Bubble (1990-1996)
Comic book bubble of the 1990s: how variant covers, polybags and #1 gimmicks turned X-Men #1 and the Death of Superman into hype,…
The 1960s Conglomerate Boom (1965-1969)
Conglomerate boom of the 1960s let ITT, LTV and Litton inflate earnings per share by buying low-P/E firms with stock. Learn the…
The 2021 Crypto and NFT Bubble (2020-2022)
Crypto bubble 2021 explained: Bitcoin near $69,000, a $3 trillion market cap, the Beeple NFT and Bored Ape mania, then the 2022…
The Dot-Com Bubble (1995-2000)
Dot-com bubble explained: how the Nasdaq rose 570%, peaked at 5,048 in March 2000, then crashed 78% by 2002 as firms like…
The Lithium and EV Stock Bubble (2020-2023)
EV stock bubble explained: how near-zero rates, climate optimism, and SPACs lifted Tesla, EV startups, and lithium prices, then…
The Everything Bubble (2020-2022)
Everything bubble explained: how near-zero rates, QE and stimulus lifted stocks, housing, bonds and crypto together in 2021, then…
The Florida Land Boom (1920-1926)
Florida land boom of the 1920s: how Miami lots flipped on paper binders, peaked in 1925, then collapsed under a rail embargo, a…
The Go-Go Mutual-Fund Mania (1966-1969)
Go-Go years saw star managers like Gerald Tsai chase performance in glamour stocks, then funds lost up to 90% in the 1969-1970…
The 1980 Gold Bubble
Gold bubble 1980 explained: how gold spiked to a record $850 fix on Jan 21, 1980, why Volcker's rate hikes broke it, and why the…
The Hong Kong Property Bubble (1995-2003)
Hong Kong property bubble explained: how a dollar-pegged credit boom peaked in 1997, then fell nearly 70% by 2003 and buried…
The Irish Property Bubble (1997-2008)
Irish property bubble explained: how Celtic Tiger credit quadrupled house prices, then crashed 54 percent, sank the banks, and…
Japan's Asset Price Bubble (1986-1991)
Japanese asset bubble explained: how the Nikkei hit 38,915 in 1989 and land prices quadrupled, then both collapsed into Japan's…
The Japanese Art and Trophy-Asset Bubble (1987-1990)
Japanese art bubble explained: how bubble-era money bought record Van Goghs and Rockefeller Center, then collapsed as Japan's…
Meme-Stock Mania (2021)
Meme stock mania in 2021 sent AMC, BlackBerry and others soaring as Reddit traders, free apps and stimulus cash collided with…
The Mississippi Bubble (1719-1720)
Mississippi Bubble explained: how John Law's 1719 paper-money scheme drove Compagnie des Indes shares from 500 to about 10,000…
The Nifty Fifty Bubble (1969-1973)
Nifty Fifty stocks like Polaroid and Avon hit 50-90x earnings, then crashed 60-90% in 1973-1974. Learn what the one-decision…
The Poseidon Nickel Bubble (1969-1970)
Poseidon bubble explained: how a 1969 nickel find sent an Australian share from roughly 80 cents to about $280, then collapsed…
The British Railway Mania (1844-1847)
Railway Mania swept 1840s Britain as railway shares soared then crashed about 66%. Learn how partly-paid shares, calls, and…
The Rare-Earth Metals Bubble (2010-2012)
The rare earth bubble of 2010-2012 saw prices spike on China supply fears, sent Molycorp from a $14 IPO to $79, then collapsed.…
The Roaring Twenties Bull Market (1921-1929)
Roaring Twenties stock market boom: how the Dow rose six-fold from about 63 in 1921 to 381 in 1929 on margin debt, investment…
The Shanghai Rubber Bubble (1909-1910)
Rubber stock bubble 1910 explained: how soaring rubber prices and margin loans inflated Shanghai shares, then a mid-1910 crash…
The Saudi Tadawul Crash (2005-2006)
Saudi stock crash 2006: how the Tadawul TASI peaked near 20,635 in February then fell about 65 percent, wiping out millions of…
The Solar (PV) Stock Bubble (2007-2012)
Solar stock bubble of 2007-2008 explained: how oil, subsidies and a silicon crunch sent panel makers soaring, then a Chinese glut…
The Souk al-Manakh Crash (1982)
Souk al-Manakh was Kuwait's unregulated stock market that crashed in 1982 when postdated checks worth about $94 billion bounced…
The South Sea Bubble (1720)
South Sea Bubble explained: how a 1720 debt-for-shares scheme drove the stock from about £128 to £1,000, then crashed, ruining…
The SPAC Boom (2020-2021)
SPAC boom explained: 248 blank-check IPOs in 2020 and a record 613 in 2021 raised over $240 billion, then de-SPAC busts at Nikola…
Sports-Card Speculation Bubbles (1988-2022)
Sports card bubble history: how the junk wax era buried millions in worthless cardboard, then the 2020-2021 boom set seven-figure…
The 1970s Stamp Investment Mania (1975-1981)
Stamp investment bubble explained: how 1970s inflation pushed money into rare stamps, prices rose roughly eight-fold by 1980,…
The Taiwan Stock Bubble (1986-1990)
Taiwan stock bubble: how the TAIEX rose twelvefold to 12,495 by February 1990, fueled by trapped savings and retail mania, then…
The Telecom and Fiber-Optic Bubble (1998-2002)
Telecom bubble explained: how 1996 deregulation drove a fiber-optic glut, why most cable sat dark, and how the 2000-2002 bust…
Tulip Mania (1636-1637)
Tulip mania peaked in winter 1636 and broke in February 1637. See the sourced timeline, the Alkmaar bulb prices, and why…
The Unicorn Startup Bubble (2020-2022)
Unicorn bubble explained: cheap money and crossover funds minted record startups above $1B in 2021, then 2022 rate hikes forced…
The 2007 Uranium Price Bubble
Uranium bubble 2007 explained: how the U3O8 spot price rocketed near $136 a pound in June 2007 on a supply shock and fund…
The 1950s Uranium Mining Bubble
Uranium bubble explained: how 1950s AEC bonuses, Charlie Steen's Mi Vida strike, and worthless penny stocks fueled a Salt Lake…
The US Housing Bubble (2002-2007)
US housing bubble explained: how cheap credit, subprime lending, and securitization pushed home prices to a 2006 peak before a 27…
The Vietnam Stock Bubble (2006-2008)
Vietnam stock bubble: how the VN-Index rocketed past 1,170 in 2007 on WTO euphoria and foreign capital, then crashed about 80% to…
The WeWork Valuation Collapse (2019)
The WeWork collapse saw a $47B startup pull its 2019 IPO in weeks after its S-1 exposed huge losses and self-dealing. See the…