WHEN THE MARKET LOSES ITS MIND

Markets do not merely move prices. They move people.

Behind every boom, crash and recovery lies the same powerful force: human emotion.

Investors like to believe that their decisions are rational, carefully calculated and based on facts. Yet when markets begin to rise or fall, confidence turns into euphoria, caution gives way to fear, and even experienced investors can become trapped by the behaviour of the crowd.

Drawing on more than three decades of experience in financial markets, the author explores the emotional architecture behind every market cycle-from the disbelief that accompanies the first stages of a recovery to the optimism, conviction and euphoria that drive prices higher. He then follows the cycle through complacency, anxiety, denial, panic and capitulation, revealing how each emotional stage influences the decisions investors make.

Combining behavioural finance, market psychology and some of the most dramatic episodes in financial history, this book revisits the Dutch tulip mania, the railway booms of the nineteenth century, the crash of 1929, Black Monday, the dot-com bubble, the 2008 financial crisis, the rise and collapse of cryptocurrencies, and the extraordinary enthusiasm now surrounding artificial intelligence.

These events may belong to different centuries, industries and technologies, but the behaviour behind them remains remarkably familiar.

Why do intelligent people follow the crowd?

Why do investors buy after prices have already surged and sell only after the damage has been done?

Why does every generation believe that the rules have changed-and that this time really is different?

When the Market Loses Its Mind shows how compelling narratives, social pressure, fear of missing out and deeply rooted cognitive biases can overpower facts, discipline and experience. More importantly, it helps readers recognise these forces before they become costly financial decisions.

This is not a book of market predictions, trading signals or promises of effortless wealth. It is a practical and thought-provoking guide to understanding what happens inside investors when markets become irrational.

Because the greatest advantage in investing is not knowing exactly what the market will do next.

It is understanding what the market may cause you to do.