“Aping In” is internet slang for when inventors jump in on an investment, probably for far too much and without really understanding what they are doing. Simmler, in a sense, to the phrase “going ape.”

History

The origins of this phrase come from a few different places.

On one level, the phrase “go ape” is often used when referring to going wild, as many memecoin inventors or WallStreetBets types tend to do.

It also has roots in the phrase “aping,” which is an act famous among primates who copy one another.

The phrase will also have some of its roots in the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which also became synonymous with wild investment strategies.

The other origins point more broadly to the 2020 “DeFi Summer” scene in crypto. At the time, the DeFi was going through a wild amount of speculative investment, egged on by stories of ICO opportunities making people rich and tons of FOMO-based investments.

FOMO or Fear-Of-Missing-Out is a poor investment strategy, generated by the overly emotional feelings investors experience when they think they’re missing out on the next hot investment.

This FOMO made a staggering amount of investors go “totally ape” and begin to ape each other. Leading to a perpetuating cycle of investment, spikes in value, and the inevitable crash.