What defines each phase
A bull market trends up over weeks and months: higher highs and higher lows, dips that get bought, and broad optimism. A bear market is the mirror — lower highs and lower lows, rallies that get sold, and persistent caution. A common rough marker is a ~20% move off the extreme, but structure (the pattern of highs and lows) is what really tells you.
Crypto cycles tend to be sharper and faster than traditional markets, so regimes can flip quickly — which is why traders watch structure rather than relying on a fixed percentage.
How sentiment and structure shift
Sentiment swings with the regime — euphoria near bull tops, despair near bear bottoms — which is why tools like the Fear & Greed Index are read as contrarian context at extremes.
Structure is the more objective read: as long as higher highs and higher lows hold, the uptrend is intact; once that breaks into lower highs and lower lows, the regime has likely turned.
Adapting your approach
Many traders lean long and 'buy the dip' in bull phases, and turn more defensive — smaller size, faster profit-taking, or sitting out — in bear phases. Strategies that work in a trend often struggle in choppy or falling markets.
Whatever the regime, the discipline is the same: define risk per trade, size accordingly, and let your journal show which conditions you actually trade well. The market decides the weather; your process is what you control.