Where Did The Bull And Bear Market Get Their Names?

The stock market was also described as being in a secular bear market from 1929 to 1949. This information is educational, and is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. This information is not a recommendation to buy, hold, or sell an investment or financial product, or take any action. This information is neither individualized nor a research report, and must not serve as the basis for any investment decision. All investments involve risk, including the possible loss of capital.

bear and bull meaning

Try not to get caught up in trying to anticipate when a bull or bear market might begin or end. Think of your investments as part of your overall financial plan and do your best to take a long-term view. When someone is bullish, it means they are expecting prices to rise over a certain period of time. The term applies to broad market indexes such as the S&P 500, specific industries, entire asset classes such as real estate or commodities and even individual stocks. It might help to think of a charging bull raising its horns to remember that to be bullish is to expect prices to charge higher.

These words are important for effectively describing market opinions and when communicating with other traders. Understanding these terms can make it easier to communicate what you are doing and to interpret what another trader is doing or where the market is heading. You’ll also be able to understand what the media is saying, and what economists believe the overall market and economy are doing. One way to handle your portfolio during either a bull or bear market is with a free investment calculator.

We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first.

Is It Better To Be Bullish Or Bearish?

Everybody talks about bull and bear markets, especially the current one, often called the longest bull market in history at just under 3,800 days. But nobody seems to agree on an exact definition, or knows where the prevailing ones originated, including many investment professionals. A bearish investor, also known as a bear, is one who believes prices will go down. As with a bullish investor, investors can be bearish about either the market as a whole or individual stocks or specific sectors. Someone who believes ABC Corp.’s stock will soon go down is said to be bearish on that company. An investor who foresees a market-wide dip in stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies or alternative investments like collectibles, is said to be bearish because he or she anticipates a sustained and significant downturn.

For example, a trader or investor might say, “I’m bearish about crude oil going into the summer,” which means that he thinks the price of crude oil is likely to go down in the early weeks of summer. A financial professional can help you build a diversified portfolio to help you feel confident in bull and bear markets alike. One of the prominent strategies that you can utilize during bull market periods is buy and hold, which is the process of buying specific security and holding on to it to sell at a later date. Selective/Concentrated Investing significantly outperforms during Eagle Markets, and Eagle Markets are a highly pervasive element of market history (accounting for 30-40% of the history of the S&P 500 Index since 1950). There is no one subcategory of Selective/Concentrated Investing that is responsible for this outperformance.

NextAdvisor may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. At NextAdvisor we’re firm believers in transparency and editorial independence. Editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by our partners.

  • The terms “bear” and “bull” are thought to derive from the way in which each animal attacks its opponents.
  • If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
  • This was simplified to “bears,” while traders who bought shares on credit were called “bulls.” The latter term might have originated by analogy to bear-baiting and bull-baiting, two animal fighting sports of the time.
  • A number of factors, both real and imagined, will lead to a bear or bull market.
  • In the 1970s, runaway inflation, higher oil prices, and political turmoil led to the first extended bear market since the 1930s.
  • In the end, there is no way to ensure gains in the investment market.

The actual origins of these expressions are unclear, but one reason could be that bulls attack by bringing their horns upward, while bears attack by swiping their paws downward. Thus, a Bear market is one in which prices are high and them go low, and a Bull Market is one in which prices are low and then go high. Managing Volatility Top 10 Stock Market Drops & Recoveries After significant declines, US stocks have Balance of trade tended to break even quickly. Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians. We provide the trading development platform that enables you to learn to trade, analyse your performance and apply insights to upgrade your potential. Equity investment options involve greater risk, including heightened volatility, than fixed-income options.

What Does Bearish Mean?

A bear market refers to a decline in prices, usually for a few months, in a single security or asset, group of securities, or the securities market as a whole. Typically, a difference between bull and bear market move of 20% or more from a recent peak or trough triggers an “official” bear or bull market. Are terms that can be used to describe investors’ sentiments toward the market.

In the 1970s, runaway inflation, higher oil prices, and political turmoil led to the first extended bear market since the 1930s. Beginning in 1982, however, the U.S. economy began to enjoy the longest and most dramatic bull market in its history. The Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 831 in 1982, but in early 1999 it crossed the 10,000 level for the first time ever. There is no specific and universal metric used to identify a bull market. Nonetheless, perhaps the most common definition of a bull market is a situation in which stock prices rise by 20%, usually after a drop of 20% and before a second 20% decline. Since bull markets are difficult to predict, analysts can typically only recognize this phenomenon after it has happened.

Therefore, it does not appear that one should expect to be able to accurately and consistently time a shift from one market environment to another over time. An approach that uses Multi-Method Investing® provides an additional layer of diversification that is not available through a traditional Strategic Asset Allocation portfolio , or through any other single-method portfolio. Generally speaking, the lower or more negative the correlation an asset’s (or strategy’s) returns with those of the rest of the assets/strategies in a portfolio, the better a portfolio diversifier it represents. Given that the 4 investment methods have correlations of less than +1.0, this means that a well-proportioned portfolio mix that includes all 4 of the methods may have a better risk/return profile than one that does not. One commonly used measure of risk-adjusted return is the Sharpe Ratio, which is shown in the table provided for each of the 4 individual investment methods, as well as for two very simple multi-method portfolios. Analysis only goes back to the earliest common start date of the 4 indexes utilized, which is December 31st, 2002.

Understanding both types of markets is crucial to long-term investing success. With two decades of business and finance journalism experience, Ben has covered breaking market news, written on equity markets for Currency Pair Investopedia, and edited personal finance content for Bankrate and LendingTree. Gordon Scott has been an active investor and technical analyst of securities, futures, forex, and penny stocks for 20+ years.

How Long Does A Bull Market Last?

A bull market is a period of time in financial markets when the price of an asset or security rises continuously. A bull market is the condition of a financial market in which prices are rising or are expected to rise. The term “bull market” is most often used to refer to the stock market but can be applied to anything that is traded, such as bonds, real estate, currencies, and commodities. Refers to a long-term primary trend when investors are pessimistic about market conditions and many sell their investments in anticipation of further losses.

bear and bull meaning

You can also consider geographically diversifying your holdings to benefit from bull markets occurring in other regions of the world. A bear market is often caused by a slowing economy and rising unemployment rates. During this period, investors generally feel pessimistic about the stock market’s outlook, and the changes in the stock market may be accompanied by a recession. But a bear market doesn’t always indicate that a recession is coming. In recent history, a recession has followed a bear market about 70% of the time.

Investing During Bull Market Or Bear Market

Usually, these real economic factors will result in a change in investor psychology regarding current and future market conditions. Investor sentiment then will lead into an upward or downward trend in demand and supply for market investments. Higher demand than supply over the long term can result in a bull market, while higher supply than demand can result in a bear market. A bull market is a sustained 20%(+) increase in stock prices from a recent market low. Bull markets occur when many companies’ equities continue to increase in value over time, adding money to their portfolios and potentially stimulating growth in other parts of the economy. Different historical market environments are often characterized by a different respective set of top performing investment managers/funds/strategies.

The intention behind using this multi-premium, multi-method approach is to build and manage an aggregate investor portfolio that is better equipped to handle a much wider variety of market environments and contingencies. Making practical investment decisions using the Risk Premium Capital Allocation theoretical framework may Famous traders help to increase the probability that an investor will achieve their financial objectives. Financial markets go through cycles of boom and bust, highs and lows. In early 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple stock market crashes have led to bear markets across the world, many of which are still ongoing.

Bear Market

Below, we’ll explore several prominent strategies investors utilize during bull market periods. However, because it is difficult to assess the state of the market as it exists currently, these strategies involve at least some degree of risk as well. Because prices of securities rise and fall essentially continuously during trading, the term “bull market” is typically reserved for extended periods in which a large portion of security prices are rising. So, if a financial news show reports that most analysts in a survey think we’re headed for a “bull market” in stocks, it means that those analysts believe that stocks will begin an extended uptrend, with prices rising consistently for a while. As a trader, you may agree with this sentiment and become bullish on stocks with the anticipation of a specific company’s shares rising or a stock index going up.

The information in this site does not contain investment advice or an investment recommendation, or an offer of or solicitation for transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. IG International Limited is licensed to conduct investment business and digital asset business by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. For more information on market trends, see the technical analysis section. The market has simply reached the highest point that it will, for some time (usually a few years). It is identified retrospectively, as market participants are not aware of it at the time it happens.

Short And Shorting

The opposite is a bull market, in which prices are advancing in an upward trend. According to standard theory, a decrease in price will result in less supply and more demand, while an increase in price will do the opposite. This works well for most assets but it often works in reverse for stocks due to the mistake many investors make of buying high in a state of euphoria and selling low in a state of fear or panic as a result of the herding instinct.

Understanding how bull and bear markets reflect positive and negative trends is key to navigating your way through the stock market. A bull market, typically referencing stock indices, exists when prices are on the rise. While individual stocks can be bullish or bearish, if the price of the stock index – such as the Dow or S&P 500 – is generally rising, then it’s considered a bull market. There is no specific percentage gauge to indicate when a market is determined to be bullish. However, a bear market occurs when the price of an index falls for a period of time by at least 20%. Just as with bull markets, a trader can be bearish on individual stocks and stock indices.

When I first heard the terminology ‘bull’, ‘bullish’, ‘bull market’, ‘bear’, ‘bearish’, and ‘bear market’, I wasn’t quite sure if it was in reference to a cultural celebration in Pamplona, Wall St., a meat market, or a zoo. To confuse you even further, you may have even heard Jim Cramer use the phrase, ‘bulls make money, bears make money, hogs get slaughtered’ . Supply and demand are the bread and butter of economics, so it’s good to know how they’re affected by bull and bear markets. Bear markets can be painful, but overall, markets are positive a majority of the time. Of the last 92 years of market history, bear markets have comprised only about 20.6 of those years. One way to make gains during a bear market is by short selling, which is a technique that involves selling borrowed shares and buying them back at lower prices.

Author: Daniel Dubrovsky

Invia il tuo messaggio su: