What Is a Bear Market? Definition, Examples and Why It Matters
Short answer: a bear market is a prolonged decline, conventionally 20% or more from the highs. The longer answer — why it matters and where people get it wrong — is below.
The definition
A bear market is a prolonged decline, conventionally 20% or more from the highs.
Definitions in crypto are often circular or full of jargon. If you understand only that sentence, you already know more than most people using the term.
Why it matters to you
In practice, most long-term returns are decided by what you do during them.
The concepts that affect your decisions are worth understanding properly; the rest is trivia.
The part people get wrong
One important nuance: crypto bear markets have historically been deeper and longer than equity ones.
Most costly mistakes in crypto come from a half-understood concept rather than a completely unknown one.
The mistakes that cost the most
Treating every notification as requiring a response. An alert is information, not an instruction, and most of them should end with you doing nothing.
Reacting to a move without checking what caused it. A fall that happens while the whole market falls is a different event from a fall that happens alone, and the correct response differs completely. Checking correlation first takes ten seconds and prevents most panic decisions.
Changing the plan mid-move. The level you chose while calm is better than the one you will choose while watching a candle. If you find yourself widening a stop or moving a target during volatility, that is the moment to close the app rather than the moment to act.
Never reviewing. Most people set up a bear market once and never look at whether it worked. A short monthly review — what fired, what you did, what you would change — compounds faster than any refinement of the setup itself.
Never miss a move in the markets you follow
One alert, set once and watched continuously on our servers, delivered on whichever channel you actually read and silent during the hours you choose.
- Fires about a second after the price hits
- Runs on our servers, so it reaches you with the app closed
- Free for 3 alerts — no card, no account
Download the app for real-time notifications
Frequently asked questions
What is a bear market in simple terms?
A bear market is a prolonged decline, conventionally 20% or more from the highs. In practice, most long-term returns are decided by what you do during them.
Is any of this financial advice?
No. Everything here is general educational information about how markets and tools work, not a recommendation to buy or sell anything. Your circumstances, tax position and risk tolerance are specific to you — for decisions that depend on them, speak to a licensed professional in your jurisdiction.
Set an alert for this: crypto price alerts, or every market and alert type. Choosing an app? How the alert apps compare, from their own pricing pages.
Related terms
- Bull Market — a sustained period of rising prices and improving sentiment
- Stop-Loss — an order that closes a position once price passes a level you chose
- Volatility — the degree to which a price moves around, in either direction
Keep reading
When Should You Take Profit?
The hardest decision in a rising market, and the one most reliably made badly — usually because it was never d…
Trading basicsHow Long Should You Hold a Crypto Position?
The right answer follows from why you bought it, which is why people who never articulated that find the quest…
Trading basicsDo You Need to Watch Charts All Day to Do Well in Crypto?
No — and for most people, watching more is actively harmful. The reason is not motivational; it is structural.…
Trading basicsWhat Is a Blockchain? Definition, Examples and Why It Matters
A blockchain is a shared, append-only ledger maintained by many independent participants. What it means in pra…