Bear Market
market · trading
A sustained market decline accompanied by broadly negative sentiment and reduced risk appetite.
A bear market is a prolonged decline across an asset or market together with weak sentiment and lower demand. The start and end are identified retrospectively rather than by one universal rule.
Traditional finance often uses a 20% decline from a recent high as a convention. Cryptocurrency volatility makes that threshold common even during shorter corrections, so duration, breadth, liquidity, and market structure provide necessary context.
One asset can be in a severe downtrend while another market rises. The label describes observed conditions; it does not predict a bottom, recovery date, or appropriate trade.
Related terms
Bull Market
→A sustained period of broadly rising prices and optimistic market sentiment, without a universal threshold or duration.
investing
Volatility
→The degree of variation in an asset’s price over time; higher volatility implies larger and more frequent price swings.
trading · metrics
Bearish
→Negative market sentiment or positioning that expects prices to fall or remain weak.
investing