"Bull market" and "bear market" are used constantly in crypto commentary, often applied confidently to describe what's happening right now — even though these labels are, in practice, much easier to apply after the fact than in the moment.
What the terms actually describe
A bull market broadly describes a sustained period of rising prices and growing confidence; a bear market describes the opposite — a sustained decline with pulled-back sentiment. Between clear bull and bear phases, markets often spend significant time in a less clearly defined middle ground, which doesn't get as catchy a name but is arguably the most common state.
Why cycles are clearer in hindsight
The challenge with cycle labels is that they're defined by sustained direction over time, which can only be confirmed once enough time has passed. A sharp decline can be the start of a bear market, or it can be a temporary dip within an ongoing bull market — the two look identical in the moment and are only distinguishable in retrospect, once the broader pattern has played out.
What tends to characterize each phase
Bull phases are often associated with rising market breadth — a large share of tracked assets rising together — and increased trading volume across the board. Bear phases tend to show the opposite: persistent negative breadth and declining participation. Neither pattern confirms a cycle on its own, but tracking breadth over weeks rather than days is one of the more useful ways to build a picture of which broader phase the market may be in.
Why this matters for how you read daily data
Understanding that markets move in extended cycles — rather than as a series of disconnected daily events — is part of why single-day numbers, covered in our 24-hour price change explainer, need context to be meaningful. A single green or red day means something different depending on which broader cycle phase it's occurring within.