There was someone at the Coinbase Christmas party who heard that they were discussing adding Ripple to Coinbase. I've heard people say that that rumour spread like wildfire and caused the current rise. TRX seems to be even more speculative. I really would not be surprised if less than 1% of investors goes beyond the landing page of a token's site, let alone read a whitepaper. Do "investors" really know about projects beyond some soundbites?"They look at ether and ask if they really need to buy a cryptokitty."
Here's where it gets awful: There's nothing preventing you from 1) Buying a bunch of Ripple 2) Posting on Reddit that you heard a rumor from a friend who has a friend who went to the Coinbase Christmas party who said he overheard they were thinking of adding Ripple to Coinbase 3) Wait 12 hours 4) Sell a shit-ton of Ripple at a hilarious profit Or worse 1) Be coinbase 2) Buy a shitload of Ripple 3) Leak that you're thinking of adding Ripple 4) Sell a shitload of Ripple Or worse 1) Be Ripple 2) Tweet that a picture of Coinbase's logo 3) profit The average stock market investor is unsophisticated. However, he's investing in something protected by securities exchange commissions, however paper-thin those protections are in actuality. Crypto speculators? that shit is all hanging out.