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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesA bear market is commonly defined as a fall of at least 20% from a previous peak, but that threshold is a convention—not an official economic classification. Historical figures depend on the index and whether prices are measured at daily closes or intraday highs and lows. The available historical table documents a 44.7% S&P 500 decline in 1929 and an 83.0% decline from April 10, 1930, to June 1, 1932; it does not establish a complete, consistently measured episode-by-episode record here.
What counts as a bear market?
For U.S. stocks, a widely used convention is a decline of 20% or more from a prior peak. The percentage is a peak-to-trough drawdown: it compares the market’s high point with its subsequent low. It is not a formal designation issued by an economic authority, and it does not by itself say what caused the fall or how long recovery will take.
The benchmark and price series matter. The S&P 500 is a broad U.S. equity benchmark, but a decline calculated from daily closing values can differ from one calculated using intraday highs and lows. Historical lists can also differ around borderline cases and across periods when index histories or methodologies differ. Yardeni Research’s historical table supplies dates and percentages for its listed episodes, but the cited figures here do not establish whether its dates and losses use closing or intraday prices. They should be read as that table’s figures, not as independently recalculated measurements.
Selected historical episodes in the S&P 500 record
The following dated figures come from Yardeni Research’s “S&P 500 Corrections & Bear Markets Since 1928” table. Its chronology begins in 1928. This is a selection of documented anchors, not a complete episode list or a like-for-like comparison of every U.S. bear market.
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| Episode shown in the table | Peak-to-trough loss | What the figure establishes |
|---|---|---|
| September 7–November 13, 1929 | 44.7% | Yardeni Research’s listed loss for this dated episode. |
| April 10, 1930–June 1, 1932 | 83.0% | Yardeni Research’s listed loss for this dated episode. |
The 1930–32 figure illustrates why a history should give dates and a measured loss rather than relying only on the label “bear market.” The Federal Reserve’s 2010 paper, Financial Market Shocks during the Great Depression, independently describes the stock market’s Great Depression trough as more than 80% below its peak and says the market did not recover its pre-Depression peak until World War II. The Federal Reserve’s account supports the scale and protracted recovery of that collapse; it is not a substitute for the table’s specific dates or price-series methodology.
Why the 1987 crash is not a whole bear-market return
On October 19, 1987, the S&P 500 fell about 20% in a single day, according to the Federal Reserve’s 2007 history of the crash. That one-day decline is a striking event, but it is not the same measurement as the cumulative peak-to-trough loss over a full bear-market episode. Comparing the daily fall directly with a multi-month or multi-year drawdown would mix different time periods and measures.
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A bear market is not the same as a recession
A bear market describes an index’s price decline. A recession describes a broad decline in economic activity. They can overlap, but neither definition requires the other: a 20% stock-market drawdown does not establish that the economy is in recession, and a recession is not defined by a stock index crossing a threshold.
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) states: “The NBER’s traditional definition of a recession is that it is a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and that lasts more than a few months.” Its business-cycle committee considers a range of economic indicators and dates turning points retrospectively. Its chronology is therefore an economic-cycle reference, not a list of stock-market bear markets. The NBER business-cycle data page was last updated March 14, 2023; that is the page’s update date, not the announcement date of a recession.
What historical averages can—and cannot—tell you
Past episodes show that declines vary substantially in depth and duration, and that recovery can take a long time. They do not provide a reliable timetable for the next decline, its eventual low, or the time required to regain a prior peak. A historical average summarizes past observations; it is not a forecast. No investment recommendation follows from these examples alone.
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