Has the tech bubble burst? Why the Nasdaq’s rough ride looks eerily like 2000.

The comparison to 2000 rests on familiar patterns: a long run of gains concentrated in technology names, stretched valuations, and a sharp single-day selloff that prompts investors to ask whether sentiment has turned. Friday's plunge is being read by some commentators as an echo of the dot-com peak, when similar leadership and enthusiasm preceded a prolonged decline.

The parallel is worth examining, but it is not proof of a repeat. Market tops are only identifiable in hindsight, and a single session's losses do not establish a trend. What matters is whether the selling reflects a durable shift in expectations — for earnings, interest rates, or growth — or a temporary repricing after an extended rally.

For observers, the useful signals are breadth (whether declines spread beyond a handful of large tech names), the direction of earnings estimates, and whether volatility persists across several sessions rather than fading quickly. Those indicators, more than any single comparison to 2000, will shape how this episode is judged.