Bull vs Bear Market Definitions

For example, during a bull market the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 can be expected to climb, even as some individual equities and sectors may not. Unlike a bear market, there is no universally accepted percentage gauge for how much a market has to rise before it qualifies as a bull market. The longest bull market in American history for stocks lasted for 4,494 days and ran from December 1987 to March 2000. A bullish market has higher liquidity, wherein stocks can trade at lower transaction costs due to investors’ high confidence in quick and steady returns. On the other hand, a bearish market has lower liquidity due to a lack of confidence in general market conditions.

Investing in any kind of market comes with risk, including the risk that you could lose money, so it’s important to understand best practices for investing in both bull and bear market phases. In a bear market, with dropping prices, investors sometimes react defensively in an attempt to minimize losses. One common strategy is selling at a loss and putting your money in fixed-income securities. However, when planning, it can be beneficial to include securities that have the potential to grow during a bear market. When we’re in a bear market, with a weak economy, demand is low as investors sell and supply is high, which leads to dropping stock prices.

Head To Head Comparison Between Bull Market vs Bear Market (Infographics)

After 2017’s then-unprecedented yearlong spike in crypto prices, the global cryptocurrency market shed more than 60% of its value by February 2018, kicking off our first official crypto winter. Prices remained relatively steady for the next few years until the crypto bull run in 2021, which again lasted for most of the year. As of November 2022, the cryptocurrency market cap is down nearly 70% from its all-time highs notched in late 2021. In Bear Market, trading activities are lower due to weak investor confidence. In Bull Market, trading activities increase substantially as investors’ confidence rises and they are attracted to the market.

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Still, a 20% increase in prices is often used as the ballpark figure that indicates a bull market. The latter, not knowing the dynamics of market cycles and the meaning of bear market, did not sell at the right time, so they are caught in the first disappointments, spreading FUD in the general sentiment. There Bull and Bear Market: Definition & Difference are many examples of bear markets in history and they are invaluable in understanding how to deal with future ones. Stovall says since 1945, the combination of these four factors is what typically led to bear markets. However, not all long movements in the market can be characterized as bull or bear.

When the economy is seeing major swings, you might hear a lot about investors feeling “bullish” or “bearish,” which generally describes how positive or negative investors are feeling about the stock market. Still, resisting the temptation to sell investments when markets plummet is difficult, but it’s one of the best things you can do for your portfolio. If you have trouble keeping your hands off your investments during a bear market, you can have a robo-advisor or a financial advisor manage your investments for you, in both the good times and the bad. During bear markets, all the companies in a given stock index, such as the S&P 500, generally fall — but not necessarily by similar amounts. If you’re invested in a mix of relative winners and losers, it helps to minimize your portfolio’s overall losses. A bear market is defined by a prolonged drop in investment prices — generally, a bear market happens when a broad market index falls by 20% or more from its most recent high.

Investing considerations in a bull market

GDP increases when companies’ revenues are increasing and employee pay is rising, which enables increased consumer spending. GDP decreases when companies’ https://www.bigshotrading.info/blog/top-10-rules-for-successful-trading/ sales are sluggish and wages are stagnant or declining. The average length of a bear market is just 289 days, or just under 10 months.

• A bear market may be an indicator of normal fluctuations in the stock market, or it may signal that the economy is headed for a more serious downturn.
• When prices fall for an extended time and are expected to continue dropping, that’s a bear market.
• Someone who believes ABC Corp.’s stock will soon go down is said to be bearish on that company.
• The longest bull market occurred just after the Great Recession, starting in 2009 and running through 2020.
• During a bull market, investors are generally enthusiastic about a strong economy and solid job growth.
• Morgan and the Publisher are not under common ownership or otherwise related entities, and each are responsible for their own obligations.
• There is no guarantee that any investment strategy will work under all market conditions or is suitable for all investors.

Whether or not there is going to be a bull market or a bear market can only be determined over a longer time period. A market changes from bearish to bullish when lower prices begin to go up and start trending higher. The opposite of that is true as well, a market will switch from bullish to bearish if its trend moves down and continues downward over time.

How to invest during a bear vs. bull market

With fewer total investors, crypto may also be driven by factors unique to its niche. There is a sustained increase in asset prices in a bull market, accompanied by a strong economy and high employment levels. So, bear and bull markets are simply elements of the broader market cycle – crypto is no exception to this, and shares many of the same characteristics and behaviours of any other market. As with FOMO, the prevalence of anxiety may also distort price perceptions.

People would flock to the events and gamble on the outcomes, betting vast sums of money on a contest featuring a bull or a bear. It’s not hard to see how this corresponds to the usage of the terms in today’s stock market speculations. One of the worst bear markets in U.S. history was precipitated by the stock market crash of 1929, which led to the Great Depression and a bear market that lasted almost three years.

By early 18th-century England, the term “bearskin” was used as shorthand for speculative stock buying, which we call short-selling today. Even if you’ve heard the terms a million times, you may have never really considered how bull or bear markets got their mammalian monikers. When investing in a bullish market, it’s always best to recognize the trend early on so you can likewise buy early. Later on, you can sell at higher prices just as the market is hitting its peak. Bull markets tend to last long, so any losses are usually minimal and temporary. Crypto traders usually buy during bearish markets for the benefit of lower cryptocurrency prices.