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Acting on a bearish or bullish opinion should only be done based on a well-defined and tested trading strategy. To say “he’s bearish on stocks” means he believes the price of stocks will decline in value. Being bearish is the exact opposite of being bullish; it’s the belief that the price of an asset will fall. In the stock market, there are more restrictions on which stocks can be shorted and when. For example, instead of saying “I am long on that stock,” a trader may say, “I am bullish on that stock.” Both statements indicate person believes prices will rise. Put simply, being a bull or having a bullish attitude stems from a belief that an asset will rise in value.

• A bull market indicates a sustained increase in price, whereas a bear market denotes sustained periods of downward trending stock prices – typically 20% or more.
• Hartford Funds does not represent that any products or strategies discussed are appropriate for any particular investor so investors should seek their own professional advice before investing.
• A strong production economy, high employment, and rising GDP all suggest profits will continue to grow, and this is reflected in rising stock prices.
• But, of course, we can’t be at all sure on this one as there wasn’t the more lengthy documented progression of definition as with the “bear” term.
• In recent history, a recession has followed a bear market about 70% of the time.

In effect, based on this “overlapping” set of definitions , our newly identified Wolf and Eagle markets can be viewed as subsets or components of the traditional Bull market. Think of a bear with its nose pointed down and claws scratching down. Spotting when a bear market is taking hold or coming to an end is key to both profiting and limiting loss when trading.

If investors have cash and think the economy is moving in the right or wrong direction, they’ll make moves that could strengthen that trend. One approach that can help you take advantage of the market’s ebbs and flows is known as dollar-cost averaging. By making consistent contributions and investments over time, you’re able to buy more shares when prices are lower, and fewer shares when prices are higher.

Bull Or Bullish

Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. The Structured Query Language comprises several different data types that allow it to store different types of information… An hour later, she buys 100 shares back for $9.60 per share at a total cost of $960. Since she initially received $1,000, buying the shares back for only $960 gives her a $40 profit. However, if the price moves up to $10.50, she has lost $50 ($0.50 extra cost x 100 shares).

This is essentially borrowing the asset, selling it, then buying it back cheaper for a profit. Long ago, goods and services were exchanged for other goods and services. Investors who sold bear skins they did not yet own were called bears because they expected a price decline. Analysts often say that a bull market is defined by a 20% rise from a market index’s most recent lowest point; a bear market, a 20% decline from its latest high. Etymologists disagree on the exact origin of this term, however, it most likely has its origins as a foil to the term bear. While other theories circulate, this is the most generally accepted source of the phrase bull market.

Bullish Vs Bearish

A good way to remember this is to think of a bull’s horns as indicative of stock market prices on the rise. But to temper your expectations and grow your money in the long run, it’s important to know exactly what bear and bull markets signify, and how that might play into your investment strategy. Growth stocks in bull markets tend to perform well, while value Day trading stocks are usually better buys in bear markets. Value stocks are generally less popular in bull markets based on the perception that, when the economy is growing, “undervalued” stocks must be cheap for a reason. That said, if you’re particularly concerned about stock market returns in retirement, you might opt for withdrawing only 3% of your portfolio.

Each of these referenced flaws represent areas for future improved research and potentially slightly different results. While anecdotal evidence for these relationships already exist, and the basic logic underlying the hypotheses makes sense, a more convincing statistical data set is still required. Selective/Concentrated Investing may have the potential to outperform the other three methods during an Eagle market. Opportunistic Investing strategies designed to capitalize on volatility will do poorly here both because there is no volatility, and because they have the potential to hold assets other than stocks while stock prices are rising rapidly . Strategic Asset Allocation strategies designed for diversity may keep pace with the market, but they are unlikely to significantly outpace it (because by definition they will be tracking it – at least roughly).

Indicators Of Economic Trends

In a secular bear market, the prevailing trend is “bearish” or downward-moving. An example of a secular bear market occurred in gold between January 1980 to June 1999, culminating with the Brown Bottom. During this period the market gold price fell from a high of $850/oz ($30/g) to a low of $253/oz ($9/g).

A second explanation relates to early stock market participants and how they could benefit from either an up or down trend. Actually, the terms referring the way in which the animals attack their prey. A bull will start with his head low and thrust upwards with his horns to gore his target. Just the opposite of bullish; someone who believes that an investment should be sold because it is going to decrease in value. The views expressed on this blog are those of the bloggers, and not necessarily those of Intuit. Third-party blogger may have received compensation for their time and services.

They did this as an early form of short selling, trading in a commodity they did not own in the hopes that the market price for that commodity would dip. When the time came to deliver on the bearskin the trader would, theoretically, go out and buy one for less than the original sale price and make a profit off the transaction. In conclusion, in a bear market or bull market, we pretty much do exactly the opposite of what everyone else is out there doing. As Rule #1 Investors we love taking advantage of bull and bear markets. Generally speaking, a bear market is one that is showing signs of a decline. Share prices are dropping to the point where seasoned investors believe that this trend will continue, at least for the foreseeable future.

You might say that investors have recently been bearish on oil futures, or bullish on software companies. But investors’ attitudes also have an effect on the stock market, creating a sort of feedback loop. For investors who How to Start Investing in Stocks are in it for the long haul — such as those invested in index funds — it’s usually wise to wait out the bearish market, as bear markets are generally followed by bullish markets once unfavorable conditions have passed.

Many investors wish to buy securities while few are willing to sell. On the contrary, in a bear market, the demand is significantly lower than supply as more people are looking to sell than buy. A bull market indicates a sustained increase in price, whereas a bear market denotes sustained periods of downward trending stock prices – typically 20% or more. The stock market can be bearish even while bull markets are occurring in other asset classes and vice versa. If the stock market is bullish and you’re concerned about price inflation, then allocating a portion of your portfolio to gold or real estate may be a smart choice. If the stock market is bearish, then you can consider increasing your portfolio’s allocation to bonds or even converting a portion of your portfolio into cash.

If you want to learn the strategies to successfully invest regardless of how the market is performing, I’d like to invite you to join my Live 3-Day Virtual Investing Workshop. Where I’ll tune in with you in an interactive setting to help you make smart investing decisions whether the market is thriving or in the middle of a recession. Where most people feel really scared or nervous in a bear market, we’re looking to buy $10 dollar bills for $5 bucks.

You’ll still see day-to-day market swings up and down when we’re in bull or bear territory. The feeling of despondency changes to hope, “optimism”, difference between bull and bear market and eventually euphoria, as the bull runs its course. This often leads the economic cycle, for example in a full recession, or earlier.

A bull market is a financial market in which prices are rising or are expected to rise. This relationship to speculation seems to have at least partial origins from the gruesome blood sports of bull and bear-baiting. These contests began in medieval times around the 1200s and reached their height of popularity during the Elizabethan Promissory Note era. 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. Historically, the middlemen in the sale of bearskins would sell skins they had yet to receive.

Excessive Risk Taking

Over time, the major U.S. equity indexes go up and down based on internal and external factors. Performance like that excites investors, but typically in opposite ways. The former sentiment is sometimes called “bearish,” while the latter is sometimes referred to as “bullish.” But whether your sentiment is bearish or bullish, one way to ensure you make rational investment decisions is to work with a financial advisor.

Understanding Common Trading Terms

Bull Markets account for 83% of S&P 500 history under a traditional or overlapping definition of market environments, and only 24% under a mutually exclusive definition. Strategic Asset Allocation has arguably become the most dominant method of investing across the asset management industry during the last 60 years, and many practitioners have chosen to use this exclusively. But the good news is that you don’t have to choose only one method. It was number 2 during both Bear and Wolf markets, and number 3 during both Bull and Eagle markets. It provided a relatively stable “middle of the pack” performance across all market environments, but outperformed the other “middle of the pack” performer during both Bear and Wolf markets. Was not the best performer during any of the 4 market environments, but it was also never the worst performer.

Short And Shorting

For example, you may have a long-term investment in index funds because you believe the stock market will go up over the next decade. However, you may also think the market will take a dip, a short-term correction over the next few weeks or months. You can useNadex Binary Options,Knock-Outs, andCall Spreadsto effectively hedge against that short-term dip in your stock index portfolio. By selling these types of contracts, you can try to profit from the price drops. Those profits could potentially offset the losses in your long-term investments.

A contra market is one that tends to move against the trend of the broad market or has a low or negative correlation to the broader market. The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. Investopedia does not include all offers available in the marketplace. The Russian bear attacks the Afghan wolf, to the dismay of the British lion and Indian tiger.

Quantitatively defined as a period of cumulative price decrease of 20% or greater from the most recent record peak price. The LSE editors ask authors submitting a post to the blog to confirm that they have no conflicts of interest as defined by the American Economic Association in its Disclosure Policy. If the author has no such interests to disclose, no statement is provided. Note, however, that we do indicate in all cases if a data vendor or other party has a right to review a post. IG International Limited is part of the IG Group and its ultimate parent company is IG Group Holdings Plc.

For a bear market, it’s a 20% drop for markets from a high-point . This one starts with bearskins — We’re talking literal skins of bears that were a bustling trade in the colonial era along with plenty of other animal pelts. Traders would sometimes sell bearskins that they hadn’t yet purchased to keep up with demand. As a result, they’d then hope the price of bearskins would fall since they would have to buy them to satisfy the orders. That desire for a bearskin price drop led traders to earn the nickname “bears.” Every “ying” needs a “yang,” so bulls became the positive bears’ counterpart.

A “bear” sold a stock he didn’t yet own, in the same way that trappers once sold the pelt of a bear they hadn’t caught, then bought the stock back in the hopes of doing so at a lower price and pocketing the difference – in effect a short sale. Whether it’s a bull or bear market, diversification and buying and holding are the key to long-term growth. Since World War II, it has taken about two years on average for the stock market to recover, or reach its previous high. The most recent bear market, which started in March 2020, was exceptionally short, ending in August when stocks closed at record highs. The previous bear market, the Great Recession, on the other hand, didn’t see a recovery for about four years.

Author: Margaret Yang