The story most often told relates to how each animal is said to attack. A bull will thrust its horns into the air, while a bear will swipe down. These actions metaphorically reflect the movement of a market, with bull markets trending up and bear markets trending down.

Bear. They used to put these exact fight on during the California Gold Rush and the bears won nearly every time. More than likely the bear, but if he ends up getting sodomized with those horns, it might be a different story.

A bear market is a 20% downturn in stock market indexes from recent highs. A bull market occurs when stock market indexes are rising, eventually hitting new highs. Historically, bull markets tend to last longer than bear markets. Bear and bull markets can affect investor confidence and behavior.

In the jargon of stock-market traders, a bull is someone who buys securities or commodities in the expectation of a price rise, or someone whose actions make such a price rise happen. A bear is the opposite someone who sells securities or commodities in expectation of a price decline.