BitCoin crashed?

[J]

I know a few people who claim to be making money investing in bitcoin. They are also idiots so I don't know how to interpret their "making money" statement. Can you buy and sell bitcoin like you can shares of stock?

Yes. There are exchanges that convert standard currency to bitcoiin and back. They take an exchange fee on any transactions for their service. Much like a stock broker or exchange service.

You can also buy and sell things privately and with a select few businesses that accept bitcoiin.

Additionally, you can mine bitcoin. Essentially setting up one or more powerful computers or servers to act as part of the crypto exchange network and receive a very small percentage of any transaction your equipment processes on behalf of the network.