Alphabet (GOOGL) has continued to surge higher since last week when it had a delayed response to news that its Willow quantum computing chip had made a breakthrough in the speed in which it can solve problems.  GOOGL shares are up another 4.5% today and are now up more than 13% since last Monday's close. As shown below, GOOGL experienced a sharp drawdown (-22%) from mid-July to mid-September, but its recent jump higher has taken it back to new all-time highs.

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Since the "quantum" news from Google last week, smaller companies focused on quantum computing have skyrocketed.  Below is a table of four small-cap quantum computing stocks along with their year-to-date and quarter-to-date percentage changes.  Below the table, we provide price charts for each stock.

As you can see, all four of these stocks are up more than 300% this quarter alone, while Rigetti (RGTI) and Quantum Computer (QUBT) are up more than 1,000% quarter to date!  A little over a month ago, QUBT was trading for $1.38/share, but today shares are trading at $10.91.  Rigetti (RGTI) was at $1.41/share on 11/15, and this afternoon shares are trading at $8.73.

While these quantum stocks are experiencing a quantum leap right now as speculators trade the Google news, this is their second rodeo.  As you can see in the charts below, IONQ is the only one of these four quantum stocks that is currently trading at an all-time high.  RGTI, QUBT, and QMCO all traded at prices higher than they're at now during the COVID stimulus-fueled SPAC and meme-stock craze back in 2021, and then they all experienced drawdowns of more than 95%!  IONQ managed to only see a drawdown of 88% from its 2021 high to its late 2022 low.

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For investors that would rather play an ETF than a specific stock in the quantum computing space, there's the Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM), which we show below.

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During bull markets, you often see short bursts higher like this in speculative industries due to the "FOMO" trade (fear of missing out).  And they often end in tears, as we've already seen once in the quantum computing space.  This is another way of us reminding you to "be careful out there."  These kinds of moves are not normal and usually prove that there is no easy money on Wall Street.

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