---
title: What's the Difference Between a Bull Market and a Bear Market?
description: The difference between a bull market and a bear market.
authors:
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published: '2016-02-10T16:31:39.000Z'
modified: '2016-02-10T16:31:39.000Z'
section: Investing
tags:
  - bear market
  - bull market
  - dumb money
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word_count: 137
canonical: https://money.com/dumb-money-bull-vs-bear-market/
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![Taylor Tepper](https://img.money.com/2016/02/160210_inv_taylor-tepper_grab_1.png)

**What’s a bull market and what’s a bear market? And why are they called that?**

Investing terms can get confusing, and if you aren’t nose deep in market commentary, you might feel left out.

All you need to know, generally speaking, is that a bull market is good and a bear market is bad.

A bull market means that there’s optimism around a particular market and prices are rising. Ever since the Great Recession, there’s been a bull market in stocks. There was a bull market in housing right up until its collapse. A long bull market in bonds began in the mid-80s.

A bear market is the opposite. In a bear market, prices are falling and there’s widespread pessimism about the future. A bear market officially kicks in when prices have dropped by 20%. Think 2008.

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