When now you are better off going in projects that are like early eth for example koinos which the devs work relentlessy on daily as you can see on github but its still so cheap as eth was day1 so this is a chance to make $100k from $100 while eth is not only making the rich richer
Some people would buy ETH because they know it's less volatile than unknown projects. They know ethereum devs won't take their money and abandon the project.
People with less fund and looking to get rich faster are likely to bet on new and higher risk investment. It's as if they are buying a lottery ticket hoping they hit a jackpot after buying a "gem".