whats a 'bear' and a 'bull'?

illgetthere

sorry to be thick, but i read a lot about bears and bulls and other.

can someone define for me?

thanks muchly.:beer:

FTBFun

In terms of this forum

Bear = a buzzword used for those who want property prices to fall

Bull = a buzzword used for those who want property prices to rise

Often used in mindless slanging matches where no-one can be bothered to argue properly.

Cleaver

They have different meanings on this forum compared to real life. From a previous thread on the subject:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=37938012&postcount=15

Cleaver wrote: »

As a few people, including me, have said many times on here you can't really be a 'bull' or a 'bear'. You can be bullish or bearish about something, and I guess you could be constantly bullish or bearish about something, but even this is debatable.

If you're currently bearish about house prices, it presumes that you've done some sort of critical thinking and analysis and come to a conclusion. Thus, your outlook may change and you become bullish when you consider factors to have changed.

We use the wrong terms on here. For example, we'd say that Sibley is bullish about house prices and Brit is bearish about house prices, which isn't really accurate. Sibley wants hosue prices to rise and Brit wants house prices to fall. They aren't being bullish and bearish in the true, critical thinking, analysis type of way.

For example, if the government announced tomorrow that they were getting rid of stamp duty, passed a law that all mortgages required a 2% deposit, announced they were building no more houses and set a maximum mortgage interest rate of 2.5% wouldn't we all become 'bullish' overnight? I know I would.

So, on here:

Bull = Someone who wants house prices to rise
Bear = Someone who wants house prices to fall.

In the real world:

Someone who is bearish about a market: someone who has analysed the facts and believes that the outlook for a market is poor and prices will fall
Someone who is bullish about a market: someone who has analised the facts and believe sthat the outlook for a market is good and prices will rise.

In the real world you can go from being bullish to bearish quite quickly. We could not say the same about people on here.

Cleaver

FTBFun wrote: »

In terms of this forum

Bear = a buzzword used for those who want property prices to fall

Bull = a buzzword used for those who want property prices to rise

Correct, in relation to this forum. Obviously in real life you can be a BTL Landlord who owns three houses, desperately wants house prices to rise but still be very bearish about the housing market.

wymondham

... and Bears tend to be more furry than Bulls!

abaxas

Also depends on context and frame of reference.

You'll find most of the bulls on here are vested interests, who basically want free money.

The bears tend to be a mix of those that want a cheaper house (vested interest), those that cant afford a home, or people who just beleive it's a bit silly.

The thing I always find weird is that most people are hypocritical, they want things to go up in value if they own them and down if they dont. A very natural way of thinking, but that doesnt mean it is right.

Wohooo food up in price!
Wohooo child deaths up!!!

etc etc

PasturesNew

A bear is somebody who thinks now is not the time to buy into something, whether that's a house, or shares, or investments, because they feel right now prices will fall and they'll get more for their money if they wait.

A bull is somebody who feels that now IS the time to buy as prices are about to soar and anybody not buying in now is losing profits potential.

People will, therefore, "change sides" over time as they feel the market/situation has changed and it's time to buy (for bears) or stop buying and possibly sell (for bulls).

doire_2

In relation to housing....why is someone a bull when they aren't intending to sell their house(s) anytime soon? What does it to matter to them if prices fall for a few years?

Cleaver

abaxas wrote: »

You'll find most of the bulls on here are vested interests, who basically want free money.

The bears tend to be a mix of those that want a cheaper house (vested interest), those that cant afford a home, or people who just beleive it's a bit silly.

The thing I always find weird is that most people are hypocritical, they want things to go up in value if they own them and down if they dont. A very natural way of thinking, but that doesnt mean it is right.

Just to say, for the 674th time, wanting the price of an asset to go up or down has nothing to do with being bullish or bearish.

For example, we've seen an awful state of affairs in Japan, yet there will be many investors who are bullish about Japanese construction firms and are buying shares in them. This does mean they celebrate earthquakes, or want o see builings fall down. They've just analysed a situation and are bullish about a certain asset.

Orpheo

Bears talk bear facts.

Bulls talk bull$h1t.



I'm just kidding, don't anyone get their knickers in a twist.

Cleaver

doire wrote: »

In relation to housing....why is someone a bull when they aren't intending to sell their house(s) anytime soon?

For the 675th time, being bullish or bearish about the housing market has nothing to with whether you are selling or buying a house. You are bullish if you think house prices will rise and you are bearish if you think they will fall.

Your question doesn't really make any sense.