If I bought a house in 1974 for 50K and it was worth 250K 5 years ago, I could have had a 200K profit. If it is now worth 175K, I still have a profit of 125K, but I lost 75K in the last 5 years.
Similarly, if you bought MOVIE at IPO for 20,00 and you held if forever, throught the penny stock years of developement (where you were losing a ton of H$ but you didn't mind) through the rise as MOVIE went into Production and Wrap. Suddenly MOVIE is at 150 and Wow, you are up 130 per share! But wait, the reviews are in, MOVIE sucks, and it dropped to 80! You are still up 60, but you lost 70 by not selling and shorting,.
In this fable, you made mistakes...You should have shorted as it dropped down to penny stock status. Covered and bought as it really started to rise Sold and shorted when reality took over from the hype.
THAT is how the game should be played.