In Bull markets, the driving forces and sentiments are all "to the upside". In Bear markets, there are still bull forces/sentiment /hope which counter the negative psycho to the downside. This conflict of "not having the wind at your back" make trading a bear market much more difficult than the bull. Lots of trapping and false moves. Trade accordingly... FWIW...
If you have a method that trades both from the long and short side. The method probably does a bit worse in Bull markets. But performs better in bear markets. In bear markets you get both good rallies and good selloffs. "Bear market rallies are better than the real thing"
Very true statements. Bull markets don’t have crazy whip saw action that kills both longs and shorts.
Actually, I think these markets are easier to trade. More opportunities for proficient traders. In other words, if you are having serious issues in this market as a trader, then you have not arrived. Probably the first thing those struggling have to do is realize they did indeed "confuse brains and a bull market". Second thing is to get over themselves, and trade what they are seeing, not what they want to see. Investing is another story. Risk management and opportunity costs are key.
Fully agree. I just closed out a short trade, but have to say I generally prefer playing the long side as those trends generally seem to be smoother. You can get the occasional sweet and smooth short trade like this afternoon, but usually it's spikey and with much stronger counter-moves. The one benefit with this volatility, though, is that you can quickly recover initial losses (assuming they're kept small) as there's so much more on offer. This is a trader's market, though. There's a lot of talk about putting in a bottom and a year end rally, but the bulls keep getting disappointed. Meanwhile there's plenty of big juicy moves moving both up and down for those who only care about trading direction whichever way that may be.
%% Bear markets don't really kill longs; but i'm careful around guns or females\ so i see your points LOL OCT may not be the best month for discussing the wounding of longs/LOL BEAR season starts in the fall, depending on US state........ Adding to the complexity/ gun dealers/ ammo sellers can easy do better than gun stocks. Good shots.
Stocks go down faster during a bear market compared to stocks going up in a bull market. So, actually, better opportunities during a bear market.
Bear markets don't seem so tough to me - just do what Ken does and fade every single rally with a vengeance.