How to tell the bull market from the bear market.

June 15, 2009 2:16 PM

Is there a good mnemonic device to help remember whether the bull market or the bear market is the good one?

I have trouble remembering whether the bull market or the bear market is the good one. Does anyone have a good trick to help me?

posted by edavidoff to work & money (35 comments total)

Erm, I just figure that a bear is mean and will eat you, but bulls are worth good money on the market. Yes, you can switch those and it will make sense backwards, but I think it's pretty clear which way it goes.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 2:18 PM on June 15

You eat a bull but a bear eats you
posted by IanMorr at 2:18 PM on June 15

The way I remember it is that there's the big bull statue outside the NY stock exchange in Wall St. Helped me at any rate!
posted by Petrot at 2:18 PM on June 15 [7 favorites]

Bears hibernate; investors who hope for gains in the stockmarket hibernate during bear markets.

Bulls roar; the market roars ahead in good times.
posted by dfriedman at 2:18 PM on June 15

Bulls roar; the market roars ahead in good times.

Um, I don't think you've spent much time around cows.

I always remember it by hearing the cheerful, disembodied voice of Teddy Roosevelt saying "Well Bully for you!" Because that makes me happy. Therefore, a bull market is good.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:20 PM on June 15

Just think, which would you rather have in a China shop?
posted by grobstein at 2:23 PM on June 15

Bull has the letter "u" in it, as in "up".
posted by Perplexity at 2:23 PM on June 15 [1 favorite]

The way I remember it is that there's the big bull statue outside the NY stock exchange Petrot

Did you know the bull statue was a piece of guerilla art?
posted by ocherdraco at 2:23 PM on June 15 [2 favorites]

Bulls charge ahead; bear is a homophone for bare, as in cupboard.
posted by HumuloneRanger at 2:24 PM on June 15

I think you need to define "good one."

Buying stocks in a bull market may leave you accepting the results of the crash. Buying stocks during a serious bear market lets you profit when the market reverts to mean (or becomes a bull market).

I would prefer to think of it this way: "Bears are scary for bubBull buyers."
posted by rr at 2:26 PM on June 15

With the recent economic downturn I've come to think of a bull market as a bunch of people buying each other's bullshit, making themselves imaginarily rich in the process. I don't have to believe that's the case 100%, but it helps me remember.
posted by dreadpiratesully at 2:26 PM on June 15

Bulls strike upwards (horns)
Bears strike downwards (claws)
posted by toastchee at 2:31 PM on June 15 [2 favorites]

The origin of these terms (as my dad told me) are for their behavior when challenged: A bull charges ahead, while a bear rears up on its hind legs.
posted by OlderThanTOS at 2:32 PM on June 15

Publishing bad news about a company in hopes of driving the stock price down has been called a "bear raid".
posted by Bruce H. at 2:33 PM on June 15

Merrill Lynch uses the bull in its branding. It would not associate itself with a figure that symbolized a down market.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 2:34 PM on June 15

When a bear attacks it attacks by bringing its paws down - in a bear market the stocks are dropping.

When a bull attacks it attacks by bringing its horns up - in a bull market the stocks are rising.
posted by bowmaniac at 2:35 PM on June 15

Merrill Lynch uses the bull in its branding. It would not associate itself with a figure that symbolized a down market.

And Bear Stearns collapsed.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 2:36 PM on June 15 [3 favorites]

Oops, took too long to type. Sorry toastchee.
posted by bowmaniac at 2:36 PM on June 15

A bull's horns point up; a bull market is an up market.

Bears wander around looking down, a bear market is a down market.
posted by Ostara at 2:36 PM on June 15

You grab the bull by the horns. That's a positive thing.

If you grab a bear by anything, you're in trouble.
posted by rokusan at 2:38 PM on June 15 [1 favorite]

After you have heard for the millionth time that Merrill Lynch is bullish on America you will remember.
posted by caddis at 2:39 PM on June 15

Wikpedia actually has a list of mnemonics for bull and bear markets.
posted by phoenixy at 2:40 PM on June 15

2nd'ing the concept of bears hibernating, bulls charging.

joke mnemonic: bear sounds like beer, and beer is a depressant.
posted by jameslavelle3 at 2:43 PM on June 15

Wikpedia actually has a list of mnemonics for bull and bear markets.

Which points out that Barings Bank collapsed, too.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 2:44 PM on June 15

Perhaps a rhyme? e.g., Beware of Bear?
posted by scody at 3:13 PM on June 15

Bulls strike upwards (horns). Bears strike downwards (claws).

Yup...I was told that it is how the animal kills. A bull tosses you up with its horns; a bear pounds you down.
posted by ericb at 3:16 PM on June 15

I always think of the bear as the Soviet communist who hates capitalism.
posted by Kirklander at 3:24 PM on June 15

Bulls make money, Bears eat berries.
posted by clearly at 3:38 PM on June 15

Roosevelt used to say BULLY when he was happy about something
posted by legotech at 4:18 PM on June 15

The word "bullish" (optimistic) does it for me.
posted by pines at 4:20 PM on June 15 [1 favorite]

Bulls are safe domesticated animals and bears are dangerous wild animals that will hurt you, at least in the view of "city folk" coming up with stock market performance analogies based on animals.
posted by yohko at 4:27 PM on June 15

Publishing bad news about a company in hopes of driving the stock price down has been called a "bear raid".

More like, spreading rumors that may or may not be true. Slander rather than libel. And totally illegal.
posted by IndigoJones at 4:28 PM on June 15

Bears = godless killing machines. Seriously though, "bullish" works for me. But that definition probably comes from the stock market anyway…
posted by Fin Azvandi at 5:29 PM on June 15

Watch Colbert. He's constantly reminding us that bears are scary.
posted by spasm at 5:44 PM on June 15

Bulls make money, bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered. Play them right and they are both "the good ones". It is when you get greedy that you lose.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:15 PM on June 15