Remember that the bear market rally meaning and definition necessitates an eventual correction. It can be nearly impossible to differentiate between the end of a bear market and a temporary rally while it is occurring, making these rallies risky for investors. Having mentioned the risks of trading a bear market rally, here’s how one can plan to trade such markets. One might fall for the illusion that it is simple to trade, especially when analyzing the markets in hindsight.

The key with relief rallies is to have a plan for your trade, and trade that plan. You can use technical analysis to find these stocks, or you can even screen for them using fundamental criteria. The best way to take advantage of relief rallies is to be patient and wait for the market to show some signs of stabilization. In this short tutorial, we will discuss what relief rallies are, why they are important, and how you can find them in ThinkOrSwim using some simple thinkScript code. Bear market rallies are also known as a dead cat bounce or a sucker rally.

Here’s a general breakdown of how to recognise bear traps

A bear market rally occurs when a positive hope spot exists in an overall bear market. While the inciting incident for the bear rally will likely indicate genuine blackbull markets review positive economic sentiment, it is short-lived. As a result, the sharp upturn in investment values is temporary, with gains erasing when the market corrects.

Managing risk while trading a bear market rally is of utmost importance as winners can quickly turn to big losing trades. The next bear market chart below illustrates the above points when trading a bear market rally. According to some research done on this, the stock markets between the periods of 1926 through 2014 saw that the bear market, (as defined by a 20% decline over a two-month period) lasted 1.3 years. The question that often comes to mind is how to define a bear market trend. However, there is a wide consensus that when price of an asset declines 20% or more for at least two months, then the market is said to be bearish.

In this video, I’ll explain the bear market rally, show you what it is and how long they usually last. We’ll look at average time the market stays in a bull and bear market and what causes stocks to fall. I’ll then give you a complete plan for how to invest in a bear market, avoid these kinds of bear market traps and what to do. A bear market rally provides day traders a chance to profit by shorting stocks,  a complex strategy that may not be for beginner investors. Sharp relief rallies that occur in otherwise bearish markets are sometimes called a dead cat bounce or sucker’s rally.

Roughly 60% of chief investment officers, equity strategists, portfolio managers, and money managers surveyed in September 2023 by CNBC thought stocks were simply enjoying a bear market rally. But almost 40% were optimistic and said recent gains were a sign of a new bull market. As the above bear market example shows, trading a bear market rally can be quite rewarding, but the risks are equally high. Because the trend exhibited is counter to the broader market, price volatility is usually extreme. This means that you can expect sharp moves, leading to quick profits or quick losses. In addition, technical indicators like the relative strength index or stochastic oscillator often signal oversold conditions before a reversal or bear trap.

1. For example, if you own 100 shares of QQQ and you expect the stock to stay range-bound or decline over the next 3 months, you might sell a QQQ call option with an expiration 90 days out.
2. Remember that the bear market bounce meaning necessitates a market correction.
3. If you want to trade during a bear market rally (or at least protect your position), strategies involving options are used in conjunction with common stocks.
4. Looking back on the Nasdaq, you can see we’ve already had three of these this year with the market up as much as 16% in March before falling back and hitting that May low.
5. Any of these events can trigger a relief rally when the news is not as bad as expected.

Using this opportunity, you purchase back your original 100 shares for a total spend of $15,000. This trade allowed you to retain your original shares while capitalizing on the rally by taking a profit of $1,000. Read on to learn more about bear market rallies, their causes and how to take advantage of them. Founded in 1993, The Motley Fool is a financial services company dedicated to making the world smarter, happier, and richer. The Motley Fool reaches millions of people every month through our premium investing solutions, free guidance and market analysis on Fool.com, top-rated podcasts, and non-profit The Motley Fool Foundation. Following the rally in price, we can see that the stock starts to resume its declines, posting fresh lows after breaking past the initial flow that was formed.

Examples of bear market rallies in history

Also, long-term investors can focus on high-quality securities with solid fundamentals and technicals to reduce their vulnerability to bear traps. These securities will likely bounce back after market downturns and provide stable long-term growth. Moreover, long-term investors should periodically review their portfolios to ensure they align with their goals and economic conditions. What this does, it gives you the opportunity to benefit when the market recovers because it’s going to send those oversold tech and growth stocks booming higher. When the S&P 500 rallied 10% in the March rebound, shares of Tesla surged 49% in just two weeks. We’ve already seen that a new bull market cannot start until those bigger picture fundamentals and the economy starts to change.

You must be aware of the risks and be willing to accept them in order to invest in the futures and options markets. This website is neither a solicitation nor an offer to Buy/Sell futures or options. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those discussed on this website.

If the price sharply rebounds after breaking support, it might be a sign of a bear trap. However, a sudden surge in buying of the stock, partly fueled by retail investors coordinating through social media platforms like Reddit, caused increased buying and dramatically pushed the stock’s price up. There are many lessons from the affair, but at least one is that traders should always be prepared with exit strategies and risk management tools, no matter how sure they are of a stock’s continued decline. A memorable historical example of a bear trap that led to a short squeeze and ended up causing Congressional hearings and investigations by various regulators.

Bear Market Relief Rally – A Deep Dive in SPY, QQQ, DIA, and IWM

Look at recent stock market news and identify what you believe is causing the current rally. If you don’t have a reliable total market news feed, MarketBeat’s live stock feed can be an ideal resource. Read a few major news stories and confirm that the rally is a rally before executing your trade. The most recent example of a bear rally occurred during the 2022 bear market, which lasted 10 months. It began to bounce back in 2023, climbing almost 20% between January and August.

Psychological factors driving bear market rallies

During this period, there have been multiple instances of a bear market rally. Bear market rally, as the name suggests, is a rally or an upward move in prices. A rally is defined as a period where price of the asset increases steadily.

Overall, by combining careful analysis with disciplined trading practices, investors can significantly reduce their risk of falling into bear traps. Traders and investors often fall into bear traps because of some common mistakes, which can be mitigated with careful strategy and awareness. One is entering short positions based solely on the price breaking below key support levels without first confirming with volume and other indicators. Traders should always confirm a downward trajectory several ways whenever possible before taking a position. For example, in a chart of the S&P 500 with the Relative Strength Index or RSI graph. That’s a technical indicator that measures momentum in prices to indicate if stocks might be overbought or oversold on short-term trading.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master’s in economics from The New School for Social Research and etoro his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology.