If you believe TikTok, you can make easy money by listening to disco...
Last Monday, the Wall Street Journal wrote about a viral get-rich-quick trend. According to the article, TikTok users are reporting financial windfalls upon listening to Anita Ward's 1979 song "Ring My Bell."
They say it's like a good-luck charm... attracting new job offers, big tips, surprise refunds, and more.
Streams of the song have surged 10-fold on Spotify between last December and March. Paris Hilton even played the song at the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month.
Of course, a song can't make you money. But that's not the point.
This craze is an example of animal spirits – when emotion and excitement override logic in the market.
Animal spirits are always a factor in investing. But now, we're in the middle innings of a technology-driven bull market.
The top companies are blurring the line between science fiction and reality. Flashy ideas get people excited. Even in market pullbacks, some investors chase the hype even harder, hoping for the "next big thing."
One tech company is a perfect example today. Its big promises continue to whip up animal spirits...
Earlier this month, we got a glimpse of the factory that could help humans colonize space...
On March 21, Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk unveiled his plan for a massive $25 billion semiconductor factory. The plant, called "Terafab," would bring the globally fragmented chip supply chain under one roof.
Musk's companies currently get their chips from other semiconductor manufacturers, like Samsung. So he has good reason to try making his own.
He says Terafab will be the biggest chip-building plant on the planet. But his ambition doesn't end there...
Musk also said these chips will go into the systems and rockets that will help make us an intergalactic civilization.
This pitch resembles the "Ring My Bell" craze. It's full of animal spirits... But investors might be trusting their money to a song.
Musk has sold investors on "vaporware" before – exciting tech products that don't exist yet.
For example, Tesla owners have been promised Full Self-Driving vehicles for nearly a decade. But as recently as 2024, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ("IIHS") rated Tesla's automated driving as "poor."
The company has a history of selling big dreams long before real products are finished.
And now, animal spirits are stirring over SpaceX. Anticipation has been building recently over an expected initial public offering. The aerospace company is expected to hit the markets later this year.
It remains to be seen if Musk can achieve his ambitions with Terafab and SpaceX... And even if he can't, Tesla's stock price might not suffer.
But investors need to keep their wits about them in 2026.
There's a growing strain of magical thinking in the markets. The hype cycles around "Ring My Bell" and Terafab could signal that folks are chasing gains based on emotion.
You don't have to get caught up in it.
By following a disciplined approach, you can avoid buying based on hype and ensure your portfolio is safe. Remember to use proper position sizing. You can always speculate on moonshots with smaller amounts of money and scale in gradually.
Trailing stops are another great way to protect your principal investment. Set a mental point at which you'll sell, before you buy. With a 25% trailing stop, for example, you'd sell if the stock falls 25% from its peak.
Maybe humanity is headed to Mars... or maybe we're not.
But until we know for sure, a trailing stop can help protect you from the animal spirits in today's market – and promises of easy money.
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