What is bull market?

An extended period of rising prices.

Crypto bull markets have historically produced rapid gains followed by sharp reversals. Like its opposite, the label is applied by whoever is speaking, after the fact, with no agreed start date or threshold.

The thing worth knowing is not the label but what changes underneath it. Rising markets bring thinner-quality listings, heavier promotion, and worse execution conditions on the assets that attract the most new buyers, and those are measurable facts rather than opinions.

How it works

The conventional equity definition is a rise of 20% or more from a recent low. In crypto that threshold is crossed routinely without indicating a trend, because daily volatility is far higher.

What reliably accompanies extended rallies is a set of mechanical changes. Trading volumes rise and spreads on large assets tighten, so execution on Bitcoin and Ethereum improves. At the same time, new listings proliferate, and depth on newly launched assets stays thin regardless of how fast their prices move.

Leverage builds. open interest on perpetual contracts rises and funding rate payments turn positive, meaning long holders pay short holders. That positioning is what makes sharp reversals violent, because liquidation cascades force selling into falling prices.

Fee conditions change too. Network activity rises, so the base fee on Ethereum and fee rates on Bitcoin climb, and moving funds costs more precisely when more people want to.

None of this predicts anything. It describes conditions you can check.

Example

Illustrative: an asset rises 300% over four months. Its spread on a major venue narrows from 12 basis points to 4, so execution on that asset improves. Meanwhile a newly listed token rises 900% on two venues with $80,000 of total book depth, where a $20,000 sell order moves the price more than 20%. Both are described as bull market performance. Only one of them can be exited at anything near the quoted price.

Why it matters when you buy

Rising prices make execution costs easy to ignore, which is when they are largest for the assets attracting the most attention. Check depth before size for anything outside the largest assets at the liquidity pages, and check how concentrated the supply is at the concentration view.

Related terms

• bear market — the opposite label
• volatility — why the conventional threshold fits poorly
• funding rate — the cost of crowded long positioning
• liquidation — what forces selling on reversals
• open interest — the size of outstanding leveraged positions
• dollar cost averaging — a schedule that ignores the label entirely

Questions

Who declares a bull market?

Nobody. It is commentary, not a defined state, and different sources date the same period differently depending on which asset and which starting point they choose.

Does a bull market mean prices will keep rising?

No. The term describes what has already happened. RampAtlas does not forecast prices and no reliable method exists for predicting when a rally ends.

Why do fees rise during rallies?

Because more people transact at once and block space is limited. Both network fees and exchange withdrawal costs tend to climb with activity.