Period during which the stock market loses more than 10 percent of its value.

A market is referred to be “bearish” or a bear market when the price of securities is in a declining mode. It is usually regarded that a fall of more than 20% in the security prices for a continuous period of two months indicates a bear market.

A bear market is usually followed by a lot of stock selling as people fear that the prices might go down even more. If a bear market continues for a very long period of time, it might lead to an economic depression. The opposite of a bear market is called a bull market.