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Beginner Level Reading
11 Jun, 2024

Bull Market

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Crypto bull markets are intervals of general expansion and price growth that last 1-2 years.

Shawn Munir
Written by
Shawn Munir
Shawn Munir Shawn Munir Expert Author
Shawn Munir is the CEO of Coinweb.com and spearheads all the collaborative partnerships for the platform. He bought his first Bitcoin in 2017 and never looked back. He is also an investor in 200+ Web3 startups and is considered an expert in the field. Before building Coinweb with his co-founders, he co-founded Presail, a management...
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What Is The Bull Market?

The bull market meaning is a financial period of continuous price growth for the majority of assets. It begins with large investors accumulating assets, followed by broader market participation. 

Assets receive more volume, and prices often become more volatile, often ending in an all-time high and blow-off top.

Past that point, the bull market is over, and the bear market begins, which is the opposite scenario.

Every crypto market cycle and its length
Every crypto market cycle and its length | Source: Bravenewcoin.com

Although bull runs last longer, Bitcoin cycles through both markets every four years on average. Due to the potential returns, many investors anticipate bull markets and aim to maximize profits before the blow-off top.

Bitcoin tops in the past bull markets
Bitcoin tops in the past bull markets | Investopedia.com

What Does Bullish Market Mean

A “bullish market” simply means that a market or crypto asset is showing signs of price growth mid-term. It’s the same as the bull market definition. Asset prices are likely to go up, either because of the project’s success, adoption, or Bitcoin’s influence.

“A bull market occurs when a market is experiencing positive growth for a considerable amount of time. The term “Bullish” is often used when investors are optimistic about the future values of a market.” 

NMSU

Bullish also means that the price movement resembles a bull thrusting its horns upward, synonymous with rising prices. Falling prices are associated with a bear swiping its paws downward.

Visual comparison of the bear and bull market
Visual comparison of the bear and bull market | Source: VectorStock.com

Key Factors Driving Bull Markets

Various factors drive bull market prices in crypto:

  • Bitcoin dominance: Most altcoins reflect near-identical movements to the Bitcoin price on a different scale. Bitcoin tends to appreciate due to various long-term supply-demand cycles, including Bitcoin halving.
  • General Optimism: Most investors feel confident about asset prices rising soon. Thus, they tend to think more long-term and are comfortable holding despite corrections. 
  • Smart money accumulation: By the time prices start to increase rapidly, most institutional investors and firms have already finished accumulating tokens. There’s no longer any need to artificially push prices down, and they’re ready to profit.
  • More media attention: Crypto bull runs often overlap with highly anticipated events, such as the next Bitcoin upgrade or the US elections.
  • Sped-up adoption: Since bull markets attract more public interest, crypto companies increase their focus on products that make investing more accessible. They list more coins, approve Bitcoin ETFs, launch new wallets, partner with fiat payment providers, and more.

Defining Traits of Bull Markets

These traits allow traders to recognize if they’re still in the bull market:

  • Leading assets like Bitcoin are forming higher highs and higher lows
  • There’s an increasing trading volume over the months
  • Bitcoin dominance decreases as investors take profits to reinvest in smaller and smaller altcoins
  • There are frequent corrections and larger market dips over time (from 20% to over 70%)

What Is A Bull Market vs Bear Market

To better differentiate the bull and bear market dynamics:

  • Trend direction: Asset prices tend to grow on bull markets and fall on bear markets.
  • Priority strategy: To manage bull market risks, the priority is taking profits and the exit strategy. In bear markets, the focus is the buying strategy (such as dollar-cost averaging)
  • Market timing: Bull market prices change much faster and require more attention from traders. Bear markets are more defined by inactivity than black swan events, favoring long-term thinking instead.

How to Invest In a Bull Market?

Under perfect conditions, investors take profits from blue-chip coins like Bitcoin, transferring liquidity to progressively smaller altcoins. This eventually leads to speculative tokens such as NFTs and memecoins, often foretelling a correction and return to blue-chip projects.

Knowing this, investors can plan accordingly: avoid the blow-off top by prioritizing faster profits. They can buy market dips, invest in more narratives, and diversify tokens from various risk levels.

Except for holders, it’s recommended that traders use stop-loss orders and consistently take profits on the way to new highs.

Conclusion

It’s important to enter the bull market with the right expectations. For example, 20-60% dips are a given regardless of the entry point, and blow-off tops are generally unpredictable. Moreover, Bitcoin is also correlated with global market events, which can disrupt the crypto trends anytime.

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Coinweb requires writers to use primary sources to support their work. These include white papers, government data, original reporting, and interviews with industry experts. We also reference original research from other reputable publishers. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in our editorial process.

Shawn Munir
Written by

Shawn Munir is the CEO of Coinweb.com and spearheads all the collaborative partnerships for the platform. He bought his first Bitcoin in 2017 and never looked back.

He is also an investor in 200+ Web3 startups and is considered an expert in the field. Before building Coinweb with his co-founders, he co-founded Presail, a management platform designed for companies and investors to manage their investments in Web 3.