Bull market is a strong one, bear is a receding one. Where the terms originate, I have no idea!

Bull Market is a strong market, sort of like when a bull charges, and a bear market is a receding market, as a bear to hibernation, im not 100% sure if thats right but i took economics this year and i think it may be.

The names were assigned by the news media when they were looking for a way to sell the dry, dull financial news.

Ditto. Bear market = bad, bull = good with respect to stocks. I believe the bull comes from the charging bull, a "bull run". In fact this has become such a popular symbol of the market that there is this huge statue of a bull in the financial district of NYC that tourists always take pictures of. I think mcjnk007's idea that a bear market refers to a hibernating bear is as good as any I've heard. It's funny, but people in finance often don't ask these questions!

A BUll market is a rising market or rising trend. This is caused from BUyers [BUlls]. It's my observation the term originated from the way a bull defends himself: moving the head in an upward direction. A BEar market is a falling/declining market or falling/declining trend. This is caused from SEllers [BEars]. It's my observation the term originated from the way a bear defends himself: moving the paws in a downward direction. Thanks for asking your Q! I enjoyed answering it! VTY, Ron Berue Yes, that is my real last name! Sources: My wonderful family! My wonderful coaches and mentors! THE TWO [2] ABSOLUTE BEST, MOST wonderful trading groups in the world, which I am most proud to be a member of! Trading options and stocks more than 2 years. “THE University of Hard Knocks"

A bear has paws and a bull has horns

A long term downtrend (a downtrend lasting months to years) in any market,is a Bear Market whereas a long term uptrend (months to years) price movement in any market, characterized by a series of higher intermediate highs is a bull market.

In a bull market, the average investor makes less money than the market 'insiders'. In a bear market, the average investor loses more money than the market 'insiders'. HOW THE STOCK MARKET REALLY WORKS Once upon a time, in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each. The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest, and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He further announced that he would now buy at $20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it! The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50 ! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each.' The villagers rounded up with all their savings and bought all the monkeys. Then they never saw the man nor his assistant, only monkeys everywhere! Now you have a better understanding of how the stock market works.