Bearish vs. Bullish Definition

When trader look at markets, they often only look for a bearish vs. a bullish market. This is not the way that markets trade. Markets are in a trading range more than they are in a bullish or bearish trend.

To know which way the market is trending you first must know that the definition of a bullish market, a bearish market and a sideways market.

Bullish Market Definition

A bullish market is also considered being in an uptrend but what exactly is an uptrend? An uptrend is a SERIES of higher highs and higher lows. Notice I said a series! Do I need to explain what a series is? Here’s a brief explanation; a series is more than one!


This means that you have to have a higher high than before, followed by a higher low and this has to be done more than once; hence the definition, series.


Many traders see a market that looks like it’s bottoming out and then they see prices jump up for a few days and tell themselves that they market has now become Bullish. This is WRONG and this is one of the reasons why traders lose money. How many times do I have to say “SERIES”?


Let’s look at a chart and I will show you what I mean.

I’ve drawn out four points on this chart; point A, B, C and D. When I first started looking for a trend reversal from a bearish market to a bullish market was a point “A”. Then point “B” had the first higher low. Then we look for the second higher high which was point “C”. The “SERIES” started when point “D” formed which was the second higher low. I would say that the market became bullish when price broke past point “C” as you can see in the chart below.

Bearish Market Definition

A bearish market is also considered being in a downtrend but what exactly is an downtrend? A downtrend is a SERIES of lower highs and lower lows. Notice I said a series!


This means that you have to have a lower high than before, followed by a lower low and this has to be done more than once; hence the definition, series. We’ve already talked about that so let’s look at it on a chart.