Different investors in the cryptocurrency nowadays invest for one reason or the other. The investment can be as a result of the Tech aspect of the project and it can also be for buy/sell for profit motive.
Most of the recent investors are into a project just for profit motive and care less about the technology aspect of the project concerned. Most of these investors are majorly engaged in panic selling which end up dragging the token's price down which has ended up killing some project or plunder them into a mess difficult to regain from.
This is nothing new.
There is a lot of speculation in these markets, yes.
But to say that panic selling "plunders" a project is not true, especially for older alt coins that did not ICO because their fate doesn't rest on the price of the capital they raised from ICO (mostly crypto).
One of the recent catalysts for ETH dumping is the supposed sell-off of companies that ICO'd in 2018. If on the other hand a company got a private seed investment then they would be in alot better shape.
This is just another market cycle for alt-coins, they will come back for sure.