# What is not a bull market but also is not a bear market?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-not-a-bull-market-but-also-is-not-a-bear-market/454473>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 27, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-not-a-bull-market-but-also-is-not-a-bear-market/454473 "2008-06-27T17:34:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-not-a-bull-market-but-also-is-not-a-bear-market/454473/1 "2008-06-27T17:34:37Z")

</div>

Is there an animal nickname for a market that doesn’t fall or rise by 20% or more over a period of time — in other words, a steady market? The connotations of bull markets and bear markets are nicely clear: bulls stampede and bears hibernate. So if there is such a nickname, I guess it has to do with a docile animal. Maybe a bloodhound? The way they just sort of mope around, always sniffing for something of interest? Or maybe a cow? I mean, talk about docile. Or even a camel. That video of a camel walking away from a crash with a car was impressive for the camel’s apparent ho-hum attitude about the whole event.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-not-a-bull-market-but-also-is-not-a-bear-market/454473/2 "2008-06-27T17:37:14Z")

</div>

Here’s that video, by the way. A very dignified animal.

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/0zqbdNWEMhE/hqdefault.jpg "Tough Camel in India: Smashed by Car-Walks Away") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zqbdNWEMhE)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-not-a-bull-market-but-also-is-not-a-bear-market/454473/3 "2008-06-27T17:52:57Z")

</div>

No specific term that I’m aware of.