How to Remember What Bear and Bull Markets Mean
I like to think that I am pretty good at investing, but every time I hear someone say “bear market” or “bull market,” I have to double check what they really mean. (Is it a bear where stocks fall, or is it a bull?)
So, if you read the news this morning and saw us entering our first bear market since 2009 – and then asked yourself if it was good or bad news – here are three quick mental tricks to help you tell your bulls from your bears. …
Bulls fight up and bears fight down.
As Ian Salisbury explains on Money.com , bulls fight by stabbing, and bears fight by stabbing:
In the history of the stock market, there are two types of markets: bullish and bearish. Presumably, this terminology was developed to reflect the fact that the bull fights with its horns up and the bear fights with its claws down.
I have never fought with bears or bulls, so I cannot confirm the veracity of this statement.
Bulls throw enemies into the air, and bears throw them into the mud.
If you’re into more graphic metaphors, here’s one from Alex Planes from The Motley Fool :
The bull may be known for pushing enemies up, but the bear prefers to knock enemies down.
Again, I personally have not come across this bear / bull behavior, but I understand perfectly well that “bears knock enemies down” thanks to that film by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Bulls rush forward and bears hibernate
If you want mental hacking to be a little less violent, Melanie Pinola offered Lifehacker readers this analogy back in 2015 :
In a bull market, everything is moving forward: investors are confident that they are making a lot of purchases, more companies are entering the stock market, and more money is being invested in the stock market as a whole (technically, a bull market means that the market has risen in value by at least 20% ). In a bear market, investors retreat (like hibernating bears). Prices start to fluctuate and fall, and people wait and see more before investing additional money in stocks and bonds.
I guess the bears are going forward too (remember, I’m familiar with The Revenant ), but since bulls definitely don’t hibernate, does this one work too? May be?
If you have any other suggestions on how to remember which one is bearish and which one is bullish, let us know – because I don’t think any of us really want to look at it on our phones every time. when the market changes.