90% Get This Wrong: Bull Markets Are for Harvesting, Bear for Accumulating

Most retail investors get the cycle backwards. I learned through painful losses that what we call a bull market is a harvest season for disciplined holders and a liquidation trap for tourists. A bear market, far from being the end, is when real accumulation happens.

The Bull and Bear Labels Are a Dangerous Illusion

I used to believe in bull and bear markets. After nine years in crypto, I now see those words as a trap for ordinary investors. The traditional definitions exist: rising prices, new money, euphoria, that is a bull market. Falling prices, shrinking wealth, capital outflow, that is a bear market. But for you and me, those labels only push us to do the wrong thing at the wrong time.

We have already been through several so-called bull markets. In 2017, Bitcoin reached nearly $20,000. In 2018, it fell to around $3,000. Bitcoin has since broken above $120,000, and many people say we are in a bull market right now. But the label does not tell you what to do. It only tells you how the crowd feels.

My 2017 Bull Market: From Genius to Liquidation

In 2015, I used a few Bitcoin to get thousands of ETH. By 2017, that position had multiplied. I had also been buying small amounts of Bitcoin since 2014. I felt like an investment genius. The market made it easy, and I thought I was the hero of a movie. Then I made a stupid decision. I sold part of my Bitcoin and half of my Ethereum to pour money into ICOs. I used leverage from a few times to dozens of times on some projects. My logic was simple: we are in a bull market, prices will keep rising, I am smart, and this is the future.

But a bull market does not equal guaranteed price increases. It equals risk being severely underestimated. I was that person who underestimated risk. The bull market label was an amplifier for my greed and my character flaws. When everyone told me to charge in, I was already standing at the edge of a cliff. That was my tuition fee.

Why Bull Markets Systematically Hunt Retail Traders

Here is what I now understand. First, the dominant emotion in a bull market is FOMO. Prices detach from value. You buy only because the chart is green, not because the asset is worth it. You end up buying at the highest risk point. Second, leverage magnifies the problem. Bull markets make you overestimate your ability and underestimate risk. You start using contracts because you want overnight wealth. Third, the liquidation game begins. Institutions and whales do not need the market to turn. They just need a short, violent wick up or down. Your high-leverage position gets wiped out instantly. They profit from your liquidation.

This happened in 2017, in 2021, and it is still happening now in 2025. Massive liquidation events in Bitcoin are not accidents. They are designed. The people getting liquidated are the 2017 version of me, the tourists lured by the bull market label.

The Bear Market Truth: A Cleaning Filter, Not the End

When 2018 arrived, the bill came due. Bitcoin fell from $20,000 to around $3,000. Nearly all the ICOs I bought went to zero. My personal assets dropped by about 99%. I was in pain. I doubted myself. I almost left the market entirely. Honestly, I was one step from quitting. But I did not leave because I was determined. I stayed because I was already wiped out. I had no choice but to stop, turn off the charts, and think.

I asked myself what I actually believed. I remembered being 14, learning PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS. I love technology. I also remembered why I bought my first Bitcoin in 2014 despite the Mt. Gox collapse and market crash. I believed in its decentralization. But more importantly, I remembered a practical use case. I needed to send money from France to my family and suppliers in China. Traditional banks were slow, had limits, and sometimes lost my transfers. I had to go to the bank and argue. Bitcoin and Litecoin were not just price charts. They were tools, useful tools. That was their value. The bear market did not kill me. It saved me. It stripped away the bubbles, noise, and greed. It forced me to see value again.

A bear market is an emotional purge. It filters out tourists, speculators, and the greedy version of me.
Fundamentals return. Quality assets become undervalued and attractive again.
Risk is released. When everyone says run away, the worst of the downside has often already happened.
Accumulation phase begins. This is when disciplined investors can build positions quietly.

My New Cycle: Accumulate in Winter, Harvest in Summer

After the 2018 washout, I changed completely. I dumped most of the meaningless assets I had bought in 2017. I made two rules for myself. First, never touch leverage again. Second, no longer chase the hot coins that tourists pile into in summer. My strategy became boring. I quietly accumulated Bitcoin and Ethereum in winter, in bear markets, when nobody cared. That does not mean I stopped looking at new things. It means my mindset changed.

Here is a concrete example. In 2021, Dogecoin became popular. I participated, but not because I had done deep research. I have loved dogs since I was born. I liked the community. I also saw a large community forming. Then Musk tweeted, and it pumped dozens of times. Summer arrived. Tourists flooded in. When I had made a few tens of thousands of dollars, I sold everything immediately and decisively. Why? Because I knew those gains were emotional. Dogecoin might have a future, but I saw it as a summer fruit. My core land was Bitcoin. I sold the fruit to the tourists who rushed in, and I rotated the money back into my land, Bitcoin. Even now, I rarely touch meme coins. They are lively and attractive, but they do not suit me. That is the difference between a tourist and a farmer.

Forget Bull and Bear: Ask Yourself One Question

I am not a trading guru. I am an old hand, a survivor. I have made countless stupid decisions. I came from an ordinary background and once experienced rapid wealth, then lost almost everything. That loss shaped me. It taught me that ignorance and emotion will control me if I let them. When my wealth slowly came back, my mindset had changed. I no longer need to prove myself through trading wins. I care about dinner with my family, my children's education, and helping others.

I want you to understand this idea of accumulation and harvesting. It is not just an investment concept. For me, it is freedom. It is the freedom I found coding at 14. It is the freedom I found using Bitcoin and Litecoin to send money across borders. It is the freedom I live now. Now I have my farm and a good life with my family. I still travel sometimes, but the biggest wealth is time with my children. I went from being a tourist who got harvested in 2017 to a real farmer.

So forget bull and bear. The market has only cycles. You have only accumulation and harvesting. Stop asking whether the bull market has arrived or ended. Ask yourself one question: in the current cycle, am I acting like a farmer or a tourist?