Market Fall and Rise (Bear vs Bull)
In today's share market, it is important to understand precisely what bear and bull is, and why it might not have anything alarming or serious. Bull and bear is a natural up and down in the market place that is entirely dependent upon the demand and supply of buy and sell orders. If we have more buy orders compared to sell orders the market will tend to rise (bull). In the opposite case, the market will tend to fall (bear). Bear or bull in itself is not a cause for buy and sell, but in fact, it is just the effect. While many people tend to sell shares when the price starts to decrease, the wise investors buy when the price is low. Both short term and long term investors buy when the price is low, rather than when it is high and for good reasons. If you buy an under-priced share and hold it until the price increases you'll makeup money through capital gain. However, if you buy overpriced share, i.e, when price is rising you might lose money if the prices starts dropping before you can sell it. For a wise investor, it is always a good rule to buy when the price is low.Long-term Investment - a different skill
Likewise, if you want to invest in long term, then you look at the profile of the company you are buying. If the profile is good, you can buy the share and hold it. The stock will provide you return regularly (in most of the cases and even if it isn't, the company's reserve will be used to expand its operation and thus increase its profitability). You do not need to bother every day whether the price is increasing or decreasing. In the short term, if the price increases and you sell your shares you make up capital gain profit. However, if you aim for long term investment, you want to hold your shares for years. In the meanwhile, the shares may go up and down in the price, however, this does not affect your returns (usually cash or stock dividend) in any significant way. Therefore, it does not make any sense to worry about bear and bull.On the contrary, you keep a close eye on the company's management team, financial performance, and overall company's situation including prospects for expansion and growth. The company which has solid team, good financial performance and growing potential will be the choice of long term investors. Such companies will provide good returns and their shares will also appreciate in price. The rule for buying and selling stocks for long term investors also depends upon this factor. If the company is good in the above metrics, then you buy or hold the shares of such company. Otherwise, you do not buy, or if you have such shares, you will sell them to minimise your loss.