
What is a Bear Market?
A bear market happens when a market exhibits consistent price declines over a period of time. Further, it is typical seen as a 20% fall from highs due to market pessimism and negative sentiment.
A commodity is considered to be in a bear market if the sustained period is over two months or more. The opposite of a Bear Market is a Bull Market.
Understanding Bear Markets
Bear markets are a sure sign of decreased investor risk-taking and often follow (and are followed by) bull markets. A bear market in cryptocurrency can be as short as a few days and, thanks to volatility of most cryptocurrency markets, can lead directly into flat or bull markets, depending on the currency.
What is the source of the bear/bull imagery. Wall Street has long use the image of a bull and a bear to describe various market conditions. In this case, a bear “bears down” on a market i.e. slows it down while a bull “pushes up” a market, presumably with its horns.