Bulls and bears
Price is a tug of war between buyers and sellers. Traders call them bulls and bears.
Price is a tug of war
Every second the market is open, buyers and sellers are pulling on the price like a rope.
- When buyers pull harder, the price goes up.
- When sellers pull harder, the price goes down.
- When they pull the same, the price goes sideways.
Bulls push up, bears push down
Traders have nicknames for the two teams:
- are buyers. A bull attacks by swinging its horns up. So bulls push prices up.
- are sellers. A bear attacks by swiping its paws down. So bears push prices down.
If someone says "I'm ," they think the price will go up. If they say "I'm ," they think it will go down.
You'll also hear:
- Bull market: prices have been going up for a long time.
- Bear market: prices have been falling for a long time.
Why this matters
Every chart you'll ever look at is just a picture of this tug of war. Learning to read charts is learning to see which team is winning.
Remember
- Bulls = buyers, pushing price up.
- Bears = sellers, pushing price down.
- A chart shows who is winning the tug of war.
Check yourself
1. Which animal is the buyer team?
2. Someone says they are bearish. What do they think?
3. Buyers and sellers pull equally hard. What does price do?
Next lesson: What is trading?
Money Tree School is education, not financial advice. Examples use made-up or historical numbers to show how things work; they are not recommendations to buy or sell anything. Markets can lose money.