A bear market is historically outlined as a decline of 20% or extra in a broad market index that lasts not less than two months, per the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A bull market is identical dimension transfer to the upside. Bitcoin (BTC +0.34%) is a straightforward method to respect these dynamics, with its value crashing from its all-time bull market excessive close to $126,080 in early October 2025 to its bear market low close to $58,556 in late June of this 12 months. The coin additionally skilled a bear market in 2022, amongst different earlier cases.
I purchased Bitcoin all through each of these bear markets. I additionally purchased the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY +0.44%), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the S&P 500, throughout the inventory market’s 2022 bear market. I began investing extra persistently and extra critically in late 2019 and early 2020, in order that’s almost seven years of often shopping for these belongings, it doesn’t matter what sort of market is going on. The returns from doing so have satisfied me that the bear markets that many buyers dread are literally the place there’s essentially the most alternative.
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Buying Bitcoin’s 2022 backside returned 393%
It’s simple to say buyers ought to be loading up throughout bear markets, but it surely’s a lot tougher to really achieve this when the market retains dropping floor day after day.
The earlier crypto bear market was, by some metrics, tougher than this one. According to a CoinGecko examine from late June this 12 months, Bitcoin fell by 77% over 381 days, bottoming at $15,742 on Nov. 10, 2022. Anyone who purchased at or round that low and held by means of Aug. 31, 2026, is up by 393%. For returns like that, the wait wasn’t even very lengthy, and buyers did not must time their buy exactly on the backside to do effectively.
Today’s Change
(0.34%) $265.92
Current Price
$77,755.00
Key Data Points
Market Cap
Day’s Range
$76298.00 – $77831.00
52wk Range
$57945.16 – $126079.89
Volume
27.3B
Doing the identical factor with shares additionally yielded good outcomes. The S&P 500 declined by 25% throughout 282 days in 2022, closing at its low of three,577 on Oct. 12. An S&P 500 funding at that low level can be up by 94% as of Aug. 31, 2026, earlier than dividends.
Of course, I did not purchase both asset on the precise backside.
I simply stored shopping for on an everyday, once-per-week schedule through dollar-cost averaging. I particularly keep in mind sitting in my lounge in 2022, my accounts on my pc, grimacing, and contemplating whether or not to cease my automated purchases, as many down weeks had passed by, and it felt like I used to be throwing cash into the incinerator. It felt unhealthy to proceed with what regarded like a failing technique, and seeing all of the pink in my accounts daily felt unhealthy on the whole, particularly after having just lately skilled the market euphoria in 2021.
But I stayed the course, and it will definitely paid off.
Make a plan and hold some money at hand
You want to arrange for bear markets as a result of they’re inevitable.
Twenty-seven of them have occurred within the S&P 500 since 1928, in keeping with analysis from Hartford Funds carried out in 2025, with every bear market averaging a complete of 289 days. The common bull market lasts 988 days, which ought to provide you with loads of time to hone your strategy of regular purchasing, and in addition to sock away some more money to maintain in reserve for the moments of most alternative.
Today’s Change
(0.44%) $3.38
Current Price
$765.16
Key Data Points
AUM
$812B
Dividend Yield
0.98%
Expense Ratio
0.09%
Top Holdings
NVDA
8.01%
AAPL
7.26%
MSFT
5.66%
That reserve can sit unused for years, but it surely’ll nonetheless serve a beneficial psychological function.
Without any cash readily available, when a bear market rolls round, even with an everyday buying schedule, you continue to would possibly really feel a bit powerless, which might typically result in making impulsive and suboptimal monetary choices. Similarly, if in case you have some capital and the bear market presents some deep reductions on belongings that you just’d prefer to personal for the long run, you possibly can opportunistically accumulate them quicker than you would possibly be capable to in any other case, which might actually increase your morale when your portfolio is getting battered each day.
You needn’t like bear markets; you simply must act on them in a well timed vogue. Copy my plan: Automate the shopping for, accumulate the standard belongings at a quicker tempo whereas they’re low cost, after which respect your efforts just a few years later.
One final trick: Looking at your portfolio would not change its worth. If you do not like what you see throughout a bear market, shut the window and are available again in just a few weeks.