Profiting from Market Trends: Simple Tools and Techniques for Mastering Trend Analysis

CHAPTER 8

Bull Markets

There have been many bull markets since trading began underneath a buttonwood tree on Wall Street over 200 years ago. A great amount of cumulative wealth can be gained during a bull market. On an individual basis, though, some investors will fare much better than others, depending on their level of knowledge, experience, risk management practices, and overall involvement in the management of their investment funds.

■ Bull Markets of the Past 50 Years

Listed in Table 8.1 are the ten bull markets that occurred during the past 50 years, including the current one that began in March 2009. The figures shown are for the Dow Jones Industrial Average using daily market data from TC2000 (version 7). The percentage rise indicated for each of the bull markets is measured from the closing low of the prior bear market to the bull market's closing high.

Table 8.1 U.S. Bull Markets

Table 8.1 illustrates my interpretation of the bull markets of the past five decades. Although there is general consensus on the start and end dates of most of the past bull markets, there is some subjectivity involved; so there may be instances where different sources list different dates for some bull markets based on their reading of the market.

The Stock Trader's Almanac (John Wiley & Sons, 2013, p. 131) shows a bull market during 1970 to 1971 and another during 1971 to 1973, whereas I ...