This was super common in the dotcom era because day traders were hanging around the same message boards creating what we now call meme stocks. Many of them had to lock in those loses when they hit the financial crunch of the dotcom crash or the later real-estate bubble.

I had a cautionary example from some sales guys I worked with, who got caught up in margin calls – one burned the wedding money his wife had ear-marked for a house. I had avoided stocks like Cisco with wild P/E ratios and my portfolio made good returns throughout this period because it was diversified, but if I’d been willing to bet higher on Apple I would’ve retired early so I appreciate the allure.