What is a bear market?

Bear markets are prolonged periods of declining prices.

Investors usually define a bear market as a drop from recent highs of 20% or more, which is usually accompanied by widespread pessimism, angst or despair among market participants. Bear markets often play out over months or years.

Bitcoin bear markets are usually a little different from the definition and timeframe of a traditional bear market. Bitcoin bear markets tend to be steeper and faster. Drawdowns of 80% or more from all-time highs are not unusual, and 20% price drops have historically been so common for bitcoin that the market barely notices them.

Bitcoin Bear Markets — every bitcoin bear market, charted