They do have intrinsic value!

Growth stocks trade on a multiple of earnings: earnings have intrinsic value.

To who? There's no immediate benefit of holding a stock that doesn't pay out beyond voting rights, or a fraction of company assets. As parent said, you're just hoping to sell it to somebody down the line for more. It's speculation. The market is liquid, and a lot of people believe these stocks have value, but it's still speculation.

That's just dividend stocks with more shady. We promise to invest the dividend you would have gotten into ourselves to become more valuable bro. But that will only be reflected in "valuations" that don't directly affect your bank account. It is still the greater fool theory.

The worst is growth stocks that are a wrapper around actual dividend stocks. Beyond number going up, what actual concrete utility are you getting? Beyond waiting for the line to go up to eventually sell it to a greater fool, what can you _actually_ do with it? It's not real.

It is only real because enough people believe it is real. And they believe it because they want to believe it, because they are greedy and want easy money.

Once the market tanks and the greed turns into fear, there will be bagholders and the brokers will be laughing. The people who skim fees and percentages will be cozy.

"Now is the time to invest" they will say, because from here the line can only go up! And it will, eventually, because people want to believe, because they are greedy.

The only thing the stock market makes money on is greed. That is the thing that drives stock value. Not the economy.