10 Things You Should Know About Bear Markets (2024)

FAQs

What you should know about bear markets? ›

Bear markets are often associated with declines in an overall market or index like the S&P 500, but individual securities or commodities can also be considered to be in a bear market if they experience a decline of 20% or more over a sustained period of time, typically two months or more.

Selling off all your stocks after seeing red in your portfolio during a bear market is the last thing you want to do. Volatility is scary, especially if you are risk averse, but running with the volatility wave is key and beneficial to the success of your long-term portfolio.

The duration of bear markets can vary, but on average, they last approximately 289 days, equivalent to around nine and a half months. It's important to note that there's no way to predict the timing of a bear market with complete certainty, and history shows that the average bear market length can vary significantly.

The reverse of a bear market is a bull market, characterized by gains of 20% or more. While 20% is the threshold, bear markets often plummet much deeper than that over a sustained period.

An average 20-30% of funds allocated to cash can allow investors to protect their investments from hefty market falls and have the cushion left over to buy when the economy rises in the future.

That depends on how soon you'll need the money you've invested. Government bonds and defensive stocks historically perform better during a bear market. However, most people investing for the long term shouldn't be aggressively tweaking portfolios every time there is a sell-off.

Some markets, such as bonds, defensive stocks and certain commodities like gold often perform well in bearish downturns. If you have the risk appetite for it, bear markets may also be an opportunity to short-sell if trading, making a profit if you predict correctly when prices will fall (and make a loss if you don't)

The longest bear market lingered for three years, from 1946 to 1949. Taking the past 12 bear markets into consideration, the average length of a bear market is about 14 months. How bad has the average bear been? The shallowest bear market loss took place in 1990, when the S&P 500 lost around 20%.

The bounce-back from the 2008 crash took five and a half years, but an additional half year to regain your purchasing power.

Should I buy during a bear market? ›

Don't try to catch the bottom: Trying to time the market is generally a losing battle. One thing to keep in mind during bear markets is that you aren't going to invest at the bottom. Buy stocks because you want to own the business for the long term, even if the share price goes down a little more after you buy.

They can fluctuate at macroeconomic, company, market and global levels. But the good news in Australia is that a down market always recovers over time. A bear market is a period of falling share prices. The technical definition is a 20% or more decline in share prices over at least two months.

In the modern era, the average was just shy of 17 months or around a year-and-a-half to get back to even. Half of all bear markets have seen breakevens lasting less than a year while one-third have taken 2 years or longer. So investors could be waiting a while before being made whole from the prior peak.

According to a recent GOBankingRates survey, almost half of the survey's participants reported not owning any stocks, with 22% having less than $15,000 in total stock investments.

Short selling is a strategy for making money on stocks falling in price, also called “going short” or “shorting.” This is an advanced strategy only experienced investors and traders should try. An investor borrows a stock, sells it, and then buys the stock back to return it to the lender.

The bottom line. When a bear strikes, you can see share prices falling hard and market values getting lower. Mentally, this may trigger your sense to "buy low," which is generally a smart thing to do. But emotionally, it's hard to hold on to assets that are losing value for weeks or months at a time.

Some markets, such as bonds, defensive stocks and certain commodities like gold often perform well in bearish downturns. If you have the risk appetite for it, bear markets may also be an opportunity to short-sell if trading, making a profit if you predict correctly when prices will fall (and make a loss if you don't)

Government bonds and defensive stocks historically perform better during a bear market. However, most people investing for the long term shouldn't be aggressively tweaking portfolios every time there is a sell-off. The best way to go is to build a well-diversified portfolio and stick by it.

One thing to keep in mind during bear markets is that you aren't going to invest at the bottom. Buy stocks because you want to own the business for the long term, even if the share price goes down a little more after you buy. Build positions over time: This goes hand in hand with the previous tip.