Actually most Investors who Invests in AltCoins are premium risk takers and prettily be assumed to be a convention of trying a luck if they can secure a goal of making profit in a very short time but feels unfortunate when beginners or inexperience Investors fails to understand that it's not encouraging for long term holding and can actually dump just after a sudden pump.
Investing in altcoins on average happens like that if we are selective, events like the ones you describe can happen at any time. Even though fundamental altcoins still exist, there are still those who want to speculate on buying new ones and trying their luck that they will rise several times as much. Personally, I'm clear and historically it has been proven to perform well.