I think many have experienced this fact. I think you're friend miscalculated what would happen to the coin, and that's why he chose to hold it that lead to a bad result. However, he can't blame himself because I am in his place, I would have done the same. That is the just the perfect example of how volatile this market can be. A 20k gain can go to as low as 5k quickly, and evidently, it's hard to be ready for that kinds of changes because no one really knows how the coin and the project would play out in the market.