Thousands of private companies and several governments are currently conducting research on cryptocurrency. Among the facets being studied is what drives the highs and lows of digital currency, the factors behind it, and can it be controlled.

A new study sheds more light on this matter and suggests that emotions play a larger factor in the volatility of cryptocurrency than economic aspects. This analysis came from an assistant professor of finance named Daniele Bianchi who currently works at the Warwick Business School.

Dr. Bianchi argues that the price patterns of the 14 largest cryptocurrencies today mirrors the return of past investors in combination with the emotions brought by the increase or decrease of the asset’s value. There is data proving this statement so the professor’s argument warrants merit.

Moreover, emotions do play a major role in the volatility of the cryptocurrency. Let’s say that a person chose to invest in Bitcoin. If the price goes up, excitement heightens. But if the price drops, fear takes over. And when fear takes over it’s likely that the cryptocurrency investment will be pulled out by that person fearing he’ll lose everything if he decides to weather the value-decline. This is doubly true if that person is investing money that he couldn’t afford to lose.

This type of mindset will then contribute to herd mentality. A single person with this kind of hasty initial reaction would only be seen as a fractional decrease in a cryptocurrency’s value. But what if there are thousands of them? It also doesn’t help that regulatory oversight isn’t well established in the crypto real allowing market manipulations to take place.

This is why Dr. Bianchi said that cryptocurrencies aren’t ideal investment options, both in the short or long-term aspects. But others would disagree.

Founder of financial planning company Lifelaidout Roger Ma said that controlling the urge to bail out as soon as a cryptocurrency’s price drop is a bad idea since you’ve already lost the moment you do so. Ma suggests to weather out the storm, not just on a short-term goal, but on long-term strategy.

If followed, the daily rise and fall of the cryptocurrency shouldn’t affect an investor since they’re aiming at long-term goals anyway. This is called the Hodl strategy in the crypto world where one holds on to his cryptocurrency to avoid volatility altogether.