In loving embrace of a Bear (Market)
I was watching Nat Geo Wild today and there was documentary about bears during summertime. Or at least that is where I got in. Made me think about this whole idea and symbolism of crypto world. Bull vs bear market.
What is a 'Bull Market'? [1]
A bull market is a financial market of a group of securities in which prices are rising or are expected to rise. The term "bull market" is most often used to refer to the stock market but can be applied to anything that is traded, such as bonds, currencies and commodities.
What is a 'Bear Market' [2]
A bear market is a condition in which securities prices fall and widespread pessimism causes the stock market's downward spiral to be self-sustaining. Investors anticipate losses as pessimism and selling increases. Although figures vary, a downturn of 20% or more from a peak in multiple broad market indexes, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) or Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500), over a two-month period is considered an entry into a bear market.
Right. When you read that and more detailed on the Investopedia web (links in footnote), there is talk about attack. Bull attacks up, bear attacks down. So, that is the origin and it makes sense. But documentary from today made me look at things from different perspective.
There was talk about wolves and their adaptation to environment and bears from the same perspective. And what they said and showed was eye-opener for me. Wolves are carnivores and only way they can survive is to eat meat which they hunt. And when they hunt, they hunt in packs (at least wolves in that documentary, North America) and use their endurance and teamwork to kill and eat their prey. Bears, on the other hand, are omnivores, which means that they can eat almost everything that they can digest. Momma bear was first teaching her cubs where to find edible plants and when to eat them first, then took them to their first hunt with her. Then they were fishing. And finally picture of this big old bear who hid deer carcass near the river and found it to eat by himself. So peaceful and content he was that he found this one piece of rotting meat he liked very much and it is unbelievable how delicate and slowly he proceeded eating it, looking very very happy in the process. After that, he took a nap on the rest of the carcass and went to swim in the river when flees started going about it.
Point is, bears are adaptable and even goofy when everything is going their way. And during summer time that is surely the case. Wolves, on the other hand, can only eat one thing. And they are vicious any part of the year when hunting and feeding. Bulls are nowhere to be seen in that environment and traditional image we see when bull trend is represented is not wild bull but domesticated one.
That point somehow made me think about “Wolf From Wall Street” movie. And incredible how accurate that title is for that behaviour. And then I remembered all those talks and articles about bear market forming backed by all past instances of bloodbaths in crypto prices because of China banning this or that, JP Morgan CEO first thrashing BTC and then his bank buying large amounts of BTC while in a dip (cca 3,000 USD price level, cca 4,000 currently). And wolves came before my eyes. All those events led to significant drop in coin market cap and I have heard on several places how bears have come. Now I am thinking, great, let them come. Bears are adaptable and will always leave room for something positive. Don`t believe me? Look at history of big bloodbaths and you will find couple of coins going up while everything else going down. And that is true for traditional markets as well. Even though most were falling, some were rising.
Just need to figure out which are the ones that will rise when everything else falls. In another word, let the momma bear show us where to search for plants, which prey to hunt and where to position ourselves to catch the best fish. I like bears. More than bulls as a matter of fact, but I will accept their forward energy when they come and strike and ride on the green wave of profit. Comforting to know that bear hug is everything but hostile. If you know how to handle it, that is.
[1] http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bullmarket.asp
[2] http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bearmarket.asp