"Investors Get Burned After Betting on Electric-Car Metals"

https://www.wsj.com/articles/investors-get-burned-after-betting-on-electric-car-metals-11550404801?mod=hp_lead_pos3

“Markets like stocks and oil have rebounded this year, but cobalt and lithium continue to fall”

"Cobalt prices have fallen more than 30% in 2019 to their lowest level in two years, according to figures from commodity-price provider Fastmarkets through Feb. 6. Meanwhile, a lithium price index published by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence dropped for the 10th consecutive month in January to a multiyear low.

The descent in both markets is a reversal from 2017, when investors sent prices soaring as they anticipated a wave of demand would lead to supply shortages. The slump is the latest sign that once-hot trades can quickly change as major players in a sector shift their behavior in ways investors can’t predict."

I kind of remember someone wanted to but lithium at some point. I guess the problem is that you have to think of the idea when no one else is thinking about it.

The problem is a bunch of techies and trend chasers that don’t understand mining rushed into the space because they don’t understand the fundamentals of supply and demand and that supply in this case was going to be able to ramp orders of magnitude faster than demand as it always does and leave a bunch of people burned.

Exhibit A:

https://www.analystforum.com/forums/investments/91367618

Nailed it!