It starts with a whisper. Then a jog. Before you know it, everyone is sprinting for the exit, knocking over chairs and trampling anyone who trips. That’s the "devil take the hindmost" mentality in a nutshell. It’s a grim, every-man-for-himself scramble where the slowest person gets crushed. Honestly, it’s one of those old idioms that sounds poetic until you’re the one stuck at the back of the line.
The phrase has been around for centuries—appearing in Beaumont and Fletcher’s 1611 play Philaster—but it has found its most permanent home in the chaotic world of market bubbles and panics. When a market crashes, nobody cares about "community" or "long-term growth" anymore. They just want out. Now.
✨ Don't miss: Czech Republic to Dollar: What Most People Get Wrong About the Koruna
The Brutal Logic of the Hindmost
What does it actually mean to let the devil take the hindmost?
Think of a herd of deer being chased by a predator. The deer don't need to be faster than the wolf; they just need to be faster than the slowest deer. In economics, this translates to a systemic lack of cooperation. If we all stayed calm during a bank run, the bank might survive. But if I think you are going to run, I have to run faster to get my money out before the vault is empty.
It’s basically a breakdown of social trust.
Edward Chancellor wrote a phenomenal book titled Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation. He tracks this behavior back to the 17th century. He argues that speculation isn't just about greed; it’s a psychological contagion. We see our neighbors getting rich on something stupid—like tulip bulbs or South Sea Company stock—and we feel like idiots for staying on the sidelines. Then, when the reality check hits, the same impulse that drove us in (FOMO) drives us out (terror).
The South Sea Bubble and the First Great Scramble
The South Sea Bubble of 1720 is the textbook example. The company had almost no actual trade happening, yet its stock price went to the moon. Even Sir Isaac Newton—the smartest man on the planet at the time—got swept up in it.
Newton famously said, "I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people."
He lost a fortune. Why? Because the "devil take the hindmost" phase of the crash is unpredictable. When the South Sea stock started to wobble, the early sellers made off with riches. The "hindmost"—the people who bought at the peak or hesitated to sell because they hoped for a rebound—were utterly wiped out. This wasn't just a loss of "fun money." People lost their homes. Some committed suicide. The British economy was scarred for a generation.
Why We Can't Stop Doing This
You’d think we’d learn. We don't.
Our brains are hardwired for this. Evolutionarily speaking, if you saw a crowd of people running away from a dark cave, you didn't stop to ask for a peer-reviewed study on what was inside. You ran.
In modern finance, this instinct is amplified by technology. In 1929, you had to call your broker or watch a ticker tape. In 2026, or even back in the 2021 meme stock craze, you just tap a button on an app. The speed of the "scramble" has increased, making the gap between being "safe" and being "the hindmost" narrow to a matter of seconds.
The 2008 Housing Crisis: A Modern Retelling
Look at the 2008 subprime mortgage collapse. For years, everyone was making money. Lenders were handing out loans to anyone with a pulse. Then, the first few defaults happened. The "smart money"—the hedge funds that realized the underlying assets were junk—started buying credit default swaps. They were the ones jumping out of the plane with parachutes.
💡 You might also like: Sunday Morning with Maria Bartiromo Today: Why the Market is Watching This Episode So Closely
The hindmost?
Those were the regular homeowners and the pension funds holding the "senior" tranches of mortgage-backed securities that turned out to be worthless. By the time the average person realized the "devil" was coming, the exit doors were already jammed shut.
Spotting the Pattern Before the Devil Arrives
If you want to avoid being the one left behind, you have to recognize the "euphoria phase." Speculative manias usually follow a specific path described by economist Hyman Minsky.
- Displacement: Something new happens. A new technology (AI), a new resource, or a change in policy.
- Boom: Prices start to rise.
- Euphoria: This is where the "devil take the hindmost" seeds are sown. Rationality leaves the building. People trade on "momentum" rather than value.
- Profit Taking: The insiders start to quietly exit.
- Panic: The realization hits. The scramble begins.
The tricky part is that being "rational" during a boom often feels like losing. If your friend makes $50,000 on a random crypto coin while you're holding boring index funds, you feel like the hindmost during the rise. That is the trap. The goal isn't to be the first one in; it's to not be the last one out.
The Problem with "Diamond Hands"
In recent years, internet culture has glorified the idea of never selling—"HODL" or "diamond hands." While this works for solid companies like Apple or Microsoft over decades, it is a death sentence in a speculative bubble.
The "diamond hands" philosophy is essentially a pledge to be the hindmost. It’s a promise to stay in the burning building so that others can get out. It sounds noble in a meme, but in reality, the people who exit first are the ones who survive to invest another day.
Actionable Steps to Stay Ahead of the Pack
You don't have to be a victim of the next market mania. Survival is about discipline and a healthy dose of cynicism.
- Define Your Exit Before You Enter: Never buy an asset without knowing exactly what price or what "red flag" will trigger a sale. If you wait until the panic starts to decide your exit strategy, your emotions will fail you.
- Watch the Leverage: The "devil" loves leverage. When people are borrowing money to buy speculative assets, the crash will be twice as fast. Check the margin debt levels in the broader market.
- The "Cocktail Party" Indicator: When the person cutting your hair or your cousin who knows nothing about finance starts giving you "guaranteed" investment tips, the "hindmost" phase is likely months or even weeks away.
- Ignore the Sunk Cost: If an investment starts tanking, "breaking even" is a dangerous goal. The market doesn't care what price you bought at. If the ship is sinking, get off, even if you have to swim.
The phrase "devil take the hindmost" is a reminder that in moments of extreme stress, the collective good evaporates. It’s a harsh reality of human nature. By acknowledging that these cycles are inevitable, you can position yourself to be the person watching from the sidelines rather than the one caught in the stampede.
Check your portfolio for "story stocks" that have no earnings. If your investment thesis relies on "finding a greater fool" to buy it from you later, you are already playing a game of musical chairs. Make sure you know where the nearest seat is before the music stops.