How do you distinguish a BULL from a BEAR market?

[bitfudge]

I have for 1 week hesitated to get into the Crypto market because I'm very new to Crypto investing and I don't want to make misstakes (which paradoxically is how you learn to invest). I have money loaded up on the exchange market and it's waiting there for me to buy something with it. My plan is to put 50% in BTC and 50% in alt coins, but I'm afraid to miss a Bear market. I'm NOT a trader, I'm in for the long run so maybe I should worry to much about timing the market?

Can any of you people here give me some solid advice?

[1713957593]

1713957593

[Pearls Before Swine]

What we're in is a topsy turvy market,  with characteristics of both bull
and bear markets.  I think the wall street definition is 10% growth for a year
or something like that.   So if I had to pick, I'd say we're actually in a
bulk market.   But in either case,  if I was you, I'd be buying.   I suspect
we've got more than 10% growth coming for the rest of the year and beyond.

[bitfudge]

What we're in is a topsy turvy market,  with characteristics of both bull
and bear markets.  I think the wall street definition is 10% growth for a year
or something like that.   So if I had to pick, I'd say we're actually in a
bulk market.   But in either case,  if I was you, I'd be buying.   I suspect
we've got more than 10% growth coming for the rest of the year and beyond.

But thats the thing! I too believe that in a year my investment will be worth a lot more weather I invest today or next month. My concern is to get as much return as I can.

[Pearls Before Swine]

What we're in is a topsy turvy market,  with characteristics of both bull
and bear markets.  I think the wall street definition is 10% growth for a year
or something like that.   So if I had to pick, I'd say we're actually in a
bulk market.   But in either case,  if I was you, I'd be buying.   I suspect
we've got more than 10% growth coming for the rest of the year and beyond.

But thats the thing! I too believe that in a year my investment will be worth a lot more weather I invest today or next month. My concern is to get as much return as I can.

I get it, brother,  but there's not a singke person on this planet who can say
with a straight face what's going to happen with bitcoin in a year.  Don't listen to the
crap you read on this forum.  If it feels right in your gut and you have some money
that you wouldn't be heartbroken if you lost it...now's the time to get in.  Me, I
wish I'd pulled the trigger 3 years ago after the crash.

[CyberKuro]

Well, you are looking for some entry point to invest, as cheap as possible to get more return in the future.
May I ask, how long you've planned to hold it? I have no doubt about saving bitcoin for long term, even for years as it will grow even bigger than current price.
But, which one of many altcoins, that you want to invest on? Eth, bcash, dash, monero? In my opinion, altcoins doesn't worth to hold for long term, it is a trading object which fluctuate a lot and more profitable in short term, maybe around 1 months and then sell it.
Bitcoin and altcoins prices seems at higher point right now, and I suggest to wait until it drop to $2500.
How to distinguish it? Nothing for sure, look at the charts and news which state about what's coming.
The cycle always repeated, after it rise, it will fall soon.

[bitfudge]

Well, you are looking for some entry point to invest, as cheap as possible to get more return in the future.
May I ask, how long you've planned to hold it? I have no doubt about saving bitcoin for long term, even for years as it will grow even bigger than current price.
But, which one of many altcoins, that you want to invest on? Eth, bcash, dash, monero? In my opinion, altcoins doesn't worth to hold for long term, it is a trading object which fluctuate a lot and more profitable in short term, maybe around 1 months and then sell it.
Bitcoin and altcoins prices seems at higher point right now, and I suggest to wait until it drop to $2500.
How to distinguish it? Nothing for sure, look at the charts and news which state about what's coming.
The cycle always repeated, after it rise, it will fall soon.

Thanks man! I have currently $1000 to invest and I plan to put in another $1000 every month soon. For bitcoin, I want to hold as long as possible. I don't have any use for the money right now given that I'm in college, so holding BTC for at least a couple of years if not more.

The alts I'm interested in are Iconomi, Waves, Stratis, Golem, NEM. Why wouldn't you recommend me holding these for the long run? I believe these coins won't be fully fleshed out until mass adoption, which would take years, so the longer the better right?

But I agree, the alt market looks inflated right now.

[HasHe]

I have for 1 week hesitated to get into the Crypto market because I'm very new to Crypto investing and I don't want to make misstakes (which paradoxically is how you learn to invest). I have money loaded up on the exchange market and it's waiting there for me to buy something with it. My plan is to put 50% in BTC and 50% in alt coins, but I'm afraid to miss a Bear market. I'm NOT a trader, I'm in for the long run so maybe I should worry to much about timing the market?

Can any of you people here give me some solid advice?

Just do a general research about the market.If you see good developments and promising factors about the coin you are going to invest,most probably it would be a bull market with price increasing continuously.But if you see negative news every where and drawbacks,then you could guess to some extent that it would be a bear market.

[bitcoinmaniac52]

I have for 1 week hesitated to get into the Crypto market because I'm very new to Crypto investing and I don't want to make misstakes (which paradoxically is how you learn to invest). I have money loaded up on the exchange market and it's waiting there for me to buy something with it. My plan is to put 50% in BTC and 50% in alt coins, but I'm afraid to miss a Bear market. I'm NOT a trader, I'm in for the long run so maybe I should worry to much about timing the market?

Can any of you people here give me some solid advice?

A bear market is when the price of Bitcoin is on the decline. This is when you should BUY, as weak hands are selling.

A bull market is when the market is on the rise. This is when you should SELL, as poor traders are buying.

[Hydrogen]

With ICO's and alts there seems to be a coordinated effort to pump & dump made by whales.

If you can deduce their plans and get in, when they get in, someone could make money.

Otherwise, buying and holding long term could be the best strategy.

[d5000]

Bear market: You hope all the time that the price goes up so you can sell, but it doesn't - so you panic sell or hold the bag.

Bull market: You hope all the time that the price goes down so you can get "cheap coins" and then enjoy the ride, but it doesn't - so you panic buy or you keep out and be annoyed because you missed the chance.

The "sentiment" is what distinguishes these periods. Both bull and bear markets are usually volatile (at least in cryptocurrency),  but in bear markets the price highs never surpass the previous highs (only in the very short term), while in bull markets it's the opposite.

Sometimes, like in this very moment, it's difficult to distinguish both, but I am pretty sure we are in a bull market because of the high buying pressure - even if the prices sometimes dips, it relatively fastly returns to the previous highs, and I think the reason is that everyone is waiting for Segwit to happen (as a first step to solve the scalability issue and make mass adoption possible).

Reading the charts it's possible also that we are in a sideways market, because the May ATH was still not broken, but I think the "bull" probability is higher (70/30 at least).

[CryptoBry]

I do advise you to learn more before testing the waters in that exchange you are using. There are now many sites giving away free education and we even have tools that can guide your trading adventure. Always remember to be very careful and do some due diligence in choosing a coin to trade with. And in case you make a mistake, just don't stop and just learn from your mistakes.

[DaMut]

I have for 1 week hesitated to get into the Crypto market because I'm very new to Crypto investing and I don't want to make misstakes (which paradoxically is how you learn to invest). I have money loaded up on the exchange market and it's waiting there for me to buy something with it. My plan is to put 50% in BTC and 50% in alt coins, but I'm afraid to miss a Bear market. I'm NOT a trader, I'm in for the long run so maybe I should worry to much about timing the market?

Can any of you people here give me some solid advice?

That statement will resulting you loss in every trading Bitcoin or an Altcoin,
you're new in cryptocurrency so what you should do is not how to turn a market from Bull to Bear or something like that.
back then when in 2015ish,i was like you trying to find out what is going on and what will happen,
you should know a lot of shiller and fudder talked about shit like this coin will be pumped or this coin will dumped or bla bla bla..

the most important thing is your financial support,and other than that a little research about an altcoin.
remember this : Buy on rumuors and sell on news
so,when an altcoin telling us the news about their coin development,a dump will happen and a pump will happen when someone trying to make a rumour about it like this coin will get listed on poloniex or bla bla bla..

i just want to give you an advice,don't put all of your money right now into altcoin.Just buy a Bitcoin and use 5% from it as your capital to trade an altcoin,try to familiriaze yourself into it and feel it.
no matter what will happen,Bitcoin price always hit another ATH in every year.

why i said financial support,sometimes when you heard about a good development in certain coin,a huge dump happened.
it's not because of that coin turned into scam project,but the rich man trying to accumulate more coin to get a big return in the future and this cycle will take a little bit long.(some of my friend holding an altcoin when it's showing their excelent development,he believed in this coin and in the result around 1 year of hold he  got 100x from his initial amount.)

[harizen]

I have for 1 week hesitated to get into the Crypto market because I'm very new to Crypto investing and I don't want to make misstakes (which paradoxically is how you learn to invest). I have money loaded up on the exchange market and it's waiting there for me to buy something with it. My plan is to put 50% in BTC and 50% in alt coins, but I'm afraid to miss a Bear market. I'm NOT a trader, I'm in for the long run so maybe I should worry to much about timing the market?

Can any of you people here give me some solid advice?

In altcoin trading, there is really a chance that you can miss the bearish market because some of the alts are experiencing a heavy fluctuation especially if the coin is newly established in an exchange after it's succesful ICO. Dumping coins and people taking profit can happened even in just matter of less than a hour. Happenings after that varies and no one can tell.  About those alts that already trading for a long time now in an exchange, if there is an ongoing bearish market and you missed it, it's up to you if you will exit as long as you made profit. But since you want long term and don't want to be stressed out watching the price and at the same time you are sure (based on your analyzatios) that your selected coins can considered as good coins for long term holding then just ignored the bearish activity and just do holding.

In bitcoin, you can considered holding it for long if you will not used it for spending purposes.

Just hug the dips and accumulate more during that scenario.

[neurotypical]

There's no way to know the tops and lows, that is the basic 101 of trading. So the only think you can do is try to catch the waves.

If you've had an entire week of red candles, that is an obvious bear market.

Just remember that you will never be able to guess tops and lows. Try to watch the fundamentals and if a dip is cause by the usual bullshit (hardfork this hardfork that) then just buy the dip when it looks oversold). This is an example.

[JonahCallan]

In a bull market, investors should take advantage of rising prices by buying early and then selling later when the prices have reached their peak. During a bull market, investors can invest in more equity with a higher probability of making a return. In a bear market, the chances of loss are greater because prices are continually losing value. Investors are better off short selling or making safer investments, such as fixed-income securities.