What’s the diffence between a bear market and a bull market?

6 Comments

1. scubadiver50704 says:

   December 17, 2009 at 00:48

   Bear market = going down & pesimistic
   Bull market – going up and optomistic.
2. tshottieinbc says:

   December 17, 2009 at 00:51

   Bull is better.

   In Roman times they made a bull (who was free) fight a chained bear in the colosseum. The bull charged, the bear stood its ground.

   Since then the idea is that those who are bullish are charging (that is, they want and expect the market to improve) while the bearish ones are standing their ground (they expect the market to deteriorate).

   A bull market is one where the indicators are climbing. A bear one is a market where they are steady or declining.
3. brainstorm says:

   December 17, 2009 at 01:04

   Simply put, a bear market is when most everybody is selling their stocks and the prices are going down. Not good because people owning stocks in a bear market are losing money. A bull market exists when stock prices are generally rising and everybody owning stocks is making money.
4. bstinmaui says:

   December 17, 2009 at 01:13

   The markets are always ready to attack. Think of it this way: bears attack by clawing down on you hnece down market- be defensive and try to preserve money. Bulls attack with the horns upward, in a true bull market go aggressive. For a pro none is really preffered as we can make money on both. Good luck, start off slow, question everything you see and don’t believe half of it.

   Just saw the last part: as of late May it is a bear market IMHO.
5. eaglesonaperch says:

   December 17, 2009 at 01:50

   Actually 6/6/06 was the start of a new bear market.
6. 4XTrader says:

   December 17, 2009 at 02:06

   The above poster are correct in their definition of a bull and bear market. A bull market is a rising market and a bear market is a falling market.

   In terms of the overall economy, a bull market is better, but for the individual trader, it doesn’t matter. You can make money in either market.

   Pro traders don’t have a market bias, they don’t care what the market is doing, they will trade it. If it’s a bull they’ll be long, if it’s a bear, they’ll go short.