Bear Sitting Next To A Small Pile Of Money Stock Photo

The terms "bull market" and "bear market" describe upward and downward market trends, respectively,[3] and can be used to describe either the market as a whole or specific sectors and securities.[2] The terms come from London's Exchange Alley in the early 18th century, where traders who engaged in naked short selling were called "bear-skin jobbers" because they sold a bear's skin (the shares) before catching the bear. This was simplified to "bears," while traders who bought shares on credit were called "bulls." The latter term might have originated by analogy to bear-baiting and bull-baiting, two animal fighting sports of the time.