It's 1999, the stock market, and especially the technology stocks, can't be held back.

From September 1998 to March 2000, the index on the Nasdaq technology exchange rose by 170 percent.

No company is too expensive, no idea too pompous.

The stock market frenzy amid the dot-com crisis produced many winners -- and even more losers.

Because what came after that, German stockbrokers know: the dramatic collapse of the new market.

Antonia Mannweiler

Editor in Business.

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The Nasdaq only regained the points it had at the time 14 years later.

Today it is more than 200 percent above the peak of the dot-com bull market.

Since the preliminary dizzying high at the end of last year, the Nasdaq and the stocks it contains have already lost 29 percent in value – the bear market usually begins with a drop of 20 percent.

On Wednesday alone, the broad US index S&P 500 lost 4 percent and the Nasdaq 100 5 percent.

20 years ago, the technology-heavy index only reached its low after two years with a minus of 74 percent.

Björn Heissenberger from the asset management company of the same name in Zurich sees an astonishing number of parallels to the dot-com crisis.

"I'm amazed that it's actually exactly the same as it was in 2000 and that there aren't any discernible differences," he says in an interview.

It's the same script as it was then.

"The very expensive titles fall first, Zoom, Peloton, all the unprofitable tech that Cathie Wood has in her ARK innovation fund." Then it was the turn of the second most expensive in the row, then the big names like Amazon or the Facebook Parent company Meta.

As early as January, Heissenberger had warned in the FAZ that every characteristic of a bubble was fulfilled.

"Now the bubble is bursting," he says today.

What is currently happening on the markets is part of a normal stock cycle.

"The length of the bull market was less normal," he says.

It will take a while to clear that up.

Even if there are short rallies in between - a bear market is treacherous.

"Queen Cathie"

For some investors, however, the falling prices do not act as a deterrent, but rather tempting, as they offer them the opportunity to stock up at lower entry prices.

Star investor Cathie Wood is one of the undeterred tech enthusiasts.

The focus of "Queen Cathie", as some fans call her, is innovation and a lot of technology.

The ARK Innovation ETF is their flagship fund, with more than $12 billion in assets under management.

In 2020, the celebrated fund still posted a profit of 150 percent.

It's down 35 percent since the beginning of the year, and more than 70 percent since the February 2021 high.

However, that was not a reason for Wood to restructure her portfolio - on the contrary.

From the end of March to mid-May, she increased the share of the electric car manufacturer Tesla in the portfolio from 7.2 to 8.8 percent.

Wood also grabbed the video service provider Zoom, the share almost doubled from 4.1 to 8 percent.