A drop in price to zero means the investor loses his or her entire investment – a return of -100%. Because the stock is worthless, the investor holding a short position does not have to buy back the shares and return them to the lender (usually a broker), which means the short position gains a 100% return.

Wall Street crash of 1929

bubble

A bull market is the condition of a financial market 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, real estate, currencies, and commodities.

What Is a Bull Market? Bull markets indicate that the economy is strong and unemployment rates are generally low, which can instill investors with even more confidence and provide people with more income to invest. This can result in some massive growth: Stock prices go up 112% on average during bull markets.

Hawkish and Dovish When discussing changes in interest rates, people don’t generally use the term bullish. Instead, the term “hawkish” is used. When labeling a group of Central Bank officials, for example, who are inclined to raise interest rates, they are called hawkish rather than bullish.

Being bearish in trading means you believe that a market, asset or financial instrument is going to experience a downward trajectory. Bearish traders believe that a market will soon drop in value and so attempt to profit from its decline.

Bear markets are characterized by investors’ pessimism and low confidence. During a bear market, investors often seem to ignore any good news and continue selling quickly, pushing prices even lower. While investors might be bearish on an individual stock, that sentiment may not affect the market as a whole.