The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1998–2000, during which stock markets in industrialised nations saw their equity value rise sharply from growth in the more recent Internet sector and related technology fields.
A combination of rapidly increasing stock prices, market confidence that the companies would turn future profits, individual speculation in stocks, and widely available venture capital created an environment in which many investors were willing to overlook traditional metrics in favor of confidence in technological advancements.
It climaxed on 10th March 2000, with the NASDAQ peaking at 5132. This was followed by a spectacular crash, with huge numbers of startups going bust. Between 2000 and 2002, more than $5 trillion was wiped off the market value of technology companies.
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