WHAT GOES UP: THE VOLATILE WORLD OF CRYPTOCURRENCY

Tales of instant wealth are hard to resist. Popular media accounts about the emerging markets for cryptocurrency are teeming with stories of overnight Bitcoin millionaires — like the 19-year-old investor featured in this CNBC report, who parlayed a $1000 gift from his grandmother into a fortune that CNBC valued at $4.4 million. Spurred on by such news, a stampede of hopefuls have plunged into the cryptocurrency markets in the past two years, hoping to make a killing, even if they don’t know the difference between a blockchain and a blockbuster. Unfortunately, those who belatedly joined the feeding frenzy have seen...