Bull Market vs Bear Market: What is Bullish vs Bearish? A Short Guide

His team is also behind the Axi VIP portal, dedicated to continuing to guide and educate traders. And as you no doubt know already, even in an upward trend some markets tend to pull back and then retrace. Similar moves can happen on a downtrend when some markets can bounce back up before dropping lower again. As you can tell, each of these different market types would call for different trading systems.

History of Bull vs Bear Markets

You need a bullish trading system (the right tool) to ride a bullish market. The bull market is the one that appears strong and powerful, rising in value. When the bull attacks it starts from a low point swiping up to a high point.

Understanding the fundamental differences between bull and bear markets isn’t just academic—it’s essential for consistent profitability. The strategies that work brilliantly in bull markets often fail miserably in bears, and vice versa. Defensive strategies include investing in high-quality companies with strong balance sheets, allocating to inverse ETFs, or simply holding cash while waiting for better opportunities. Patience and capital preservation become primary objectives during bear markets, which can set you up for stronger returns when the bull market eventually returns. Whether you’re an experienced trader or just getting started, these practical insights what is the forex grid trading strategy will help you adapt your approach to match market conditions and potentially improve your trading results.

Erika Rasure is globally-recognized as a leading consumer economics subject matter expert, researcher, and educator. She is a financial therapist and transformational coach, with a special interest in helping women learn how to invest. Discover the key differences between fiat and commodity money, their advantages, limitations, and how they are used in global economies.

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  • The market indicators are very strong in a bullish market and vice versa in a bearish market.
  • It also tends to be marked by negative investor sentiment, where investors are typically fearful and pessimistic about the state of the market and overall economy.
  • Long-term investors see market dips as a unique opportunity to get high-quality stocks at inexpensive prices and can reduce their average cost basis by purchasing shares at lower prices.

Our trade rooms are a great place to get live group mentoring and training. Conventional wisdom suggests that buying low and selling high is the best way to profit from stocks. Sources within the finance industry indicate that bullish runs typically last five years (as noted previously), while downturns last about 1.3 years on average. This is an example of a bear market on the $SPY, which lasted for several months.

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what is the difference between bull and bear market

Therefore, defensive stocks are stable in both economic gloom and boom cycles. These are industries such as utilities, which are often owned by the government. They are necessities that people buy regardless of economic conditions. Bull markets and bear markets are common terms in both traditional finance and cryptocurrency circles. Understanding what they mean and when they apply can help investors make better decisions. A market changes from bearish to bullish when lower prices begin to go up and start trending higher.

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When trading in either market direction, it is crucial to be aware of both bullish and bearish continuation and reversal patterns. Being able to identify these price action patterns will provide an edge to your trading strategy and show potential opportunities in a rising or falling market. The world of the stock market is very dynamic and can be challenging to navigate.

Our watch lists and alert signals are great for your trading education and learning experience. Examining individual companies will allow you to find high-value stocks that have only dropped due to shareholder panic. Just don’t put all your eggs in one basket — spread your holdings across a wide range of sectors to be on the safe side. The simple moving average formula can be used as support and resistance and buy and sell signals.

  • You see bull markets and asset bubbles occurring with stocks and other investments such as bonds, commodities, and housing.
  • What are hammer candlesticks, how do we identify them, and how do we trade them?
  • The key determinant of whether the market is bull or bear is not just the market’s knee-jerk reaction to a particular event, but how it’s performing over the long term.
  • The main thing to remember is that an overall general sense of optimism characterizes a bull market.

A bear market looks as if it’s moving down from a high point, with a bear’s attack swiping down from high to low. While the average bull market lasts around 1,000 days, some go on far longer. For example, one of the more recent surges between 2009 and 2020 lasted nearly 4,000 days. So there’s always a chance that we could have several more years ahead of us before the next slump begins.

Differences

One of the most important factors to consider when gauging the market is that short movements only represent short-term trends or market corrections. While you don’t necessarily want to take money out of the market during a bull run, you can make some tweaks to potentially eke out even more gains. One approach is to rebalance your portfolio, which really can occur in any market and often happens on more of a periodic basis, such as once per year. Doing so resets your asset allocation to your desired levels and essentially helps you buy low and sell high.

What percentage rise from a market low typically defines a bull market in stocks?

A moving average is a technical indicator that shows the average price of an asset over a certain period. According to Forbes, however, a market is said to have entered the bull run when asset prices rise by 20% or more and continue to grow for weeks. When acquiring our derivative products you have no entitlement, right or obligation to the underlying financial asset. AxiTrader is not a financial adviser and all services are provided on an execution only basis. Information is of a general nature only and does not consider your financial objectives, needs or personal circumstances.

Here’s a breakdown of what each type of market entails, how bull and bear markets work, and how to invest during both. While bull markets generally don’t cause people too much stress, bear markets often inspire anxiety and uncertainty. How you should handle a bear market, though, is dependent on your investment timeline. In a bear market, however, the chance of losses is greater because prices are continually losing value and the end is often not in sight. Even if you do decide to invest with the hope of an upturn, you are likely to take a loss before any turnaround occurs.

The value of your investment may fall as well as rise and you may get back less than your initial investment. For example, the dot-com bubble crash was arguably the longest bear market in recent history, lasting for over two years. The Great Depression and World War II bear markets lasted even longer. Meanwhile, the shortest bear market was the Q pandemic crash, which lasted only a few weeks.