what is a bull 
a bull is an investor who thinks the market a specific security or an industry is poised to rise investors who adopt a bull approach purchase securities under the assumption that they can sell them later at a higher price bulls are optimistic investors who are attempting to profit from the upward movement of stocks with certain strategies suited to that theory understanding bullsbullish investors identify securities that are likely to increase in value and direct available funds toward those investments opportunities to assume the position of a bull investor exist even when an overall market or sector is in a bearish trend bull investors look for growth opportunities within the down market and may look to capitalize should market conditions reverse bullish characteristicscharacteristics of a bull market include bulls and risk mitigationto limit the risk of losses a bull may employ the use of stop loss orders this allows the investor to specify a price at which to sell the associated security should prices begin to move downward additionally these investors may purchase puts to help compensate for any risk present in a portfolio bulls can also use diversification to mitigate risk by spreading investments across different asset classes sectors styles and geographic regions investors can still remain bullish without putting too many eggs in one basket bull trapsbull investors must be mindful of what is commonly known as bull traps a bull trap exists when an investor believes a sudden increase in the value of a particular security is the beginning of a trend resulting in the investor going long this can lead to a buying frenzy where as more investors purchase the security the price continues to inflate once those interested in purchasing the security have completed the trades demand may decline and lower associated security prices as the price declines bull investors must choose whether to hold or sell the security if investors begin to sell the price may experience further decline this may prompt a new round of investors to sell their holdings and drive the price down even further in cases where a bull trap existed the associated stock price often does not recover bull vs beara bear is the opposite of a bull bear investors believe that the value of a specific security or industry is likely to decline in the future a bear market occurs when the market experiences prolong price declines typically when securities prices fall by 20 or more and there is negative investor sentiment if you are bullish on the s p 500 you attempt to profit from a rise in the index by going long bears however are pessimistic and believe that a particular security commodity or entity is set to suffer a decline in price bullishness and bearishness do not necessarily apply only to the stock market people can be bullish or bearish on any investment opportunity including real estate and commodities such as soybeans crude oil or even peanuts examples of a bullone of the best examples of a bull market was the sharp rise in us technology stocks during the late 1990s between 1995 and its highest point in march 2000 the nasdaq index gained a whopping 400 unfortunately the nasdaq crashed nearly 80 over the following several months essentially giving back all of the gains made during the bull run another famous example of a bull market was the extreme run up in u s housing prices in the mid 2000s it was fueled by easy money policies relaxed lending standards rampant speculation unregulated derivatives and irrational exuberance the housing bubble was directly related to and possibly the root cause of the 2007 2008 financial crisis always be on the lookout for early signs that a bull run may be coming to an end for instance u s homeownership had peaked at 69 2 in 2004 1 and in 2006 home prices began to fall yet the risks only became apparent to most investors in august 2007 bullish faqsbullish stocks are typically defined as stocks that display a bullish price pattern in order to identify bullish stocks there s no substitute for learning the ins and outs of technical analysis of course traders should also familiarize themselves with technical indicators such as overlays and oscillators some of the more common bullish patterns used by traders and investors include four of the most commonly used technical analysis indicators are a bullish reversal is a pattern that represents a price decline followed by a rebound common types of bullish reversal patterns include 