Tulipmania is frequently used as a metaphor for other speculative bubbles, particularly when the subject of the bubble has no clear economic value. Similar cycles have been observed in the price of Beanie Babies, baseball cards, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and shipping stocks.
A notable parallel occurred during the dotcom bubble of the early 2000s when investors poured money into the tech sector. Due to the mysterious and poorly understood promise of the Internet, these investors found themselves putting money into companies with no revenue stream and no clear business model.
Another example is the derivatives bubble that preceded the global financial crisis of 2008. Due to the complexity of the derivatives markets, hedge funds and banks underestimated their risk exposure, causing the market to collapse when the underlying debts defaulted.
Some argue that the high prices of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies show similarities to a tulip-like bubble.