What do "bullish" and "bearish" mean?
Bullish means expecting prices to rise; bearish means expecting them to fall. A bull market is a sustained rise, a bear market a fall of 20 percent or more from a peak.
Bullish is optimistic; bearish is pessimistic. An analyst who is bullish on Apple thinks the stock will go up. A bearish commentator thinks the market is heading down. The words attach to anything: a stock, a sector, the whole market, even a currency.
The same animals name the big market phases. A bull market is a long stretch of rising prices, usually dated from a low and lasting years. A bear market is a fall of 20 percent or more from a recent high. The common story is that a bull attacks by thrusting its horns up and a bear swipes its paws down, which is at least easy to remember.
In news coverage you will see the shorthand constantly: "bulls took control after the Fed decision," "bears are circling the retail sector." It is colourful and it is mostly noise. Someone being bullish is an opinion, not a fact about the company.
Related terms worth knowing: a "rally" is a sharp rise, a "sell-off" a sharp fall, and "sentiment" is the overall mood, which is what the bull-and-bear language is really describing.
Informational only, not financial advice. Updated September 4, 2026.
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