A bear is an investor or trader who expects the price of an asset, or the market as a whole, to fall. Bears may sell holdings, keep more cash, buy protective options or take short positions that profit from a decline. Their outlook is described as bearish, and a prolonged fall of around 20% or more from a recent peak is called a bear market. The opposite is a bull, who expects prices to rise. The term dates back to eighteenth-century London, where traders who sold a bearskin before catching the bear, meaning sold an asset they did not yet own, were called bearskin jobbers. A large holder whose selling pushes prices down is sometimes called a bearwhale in crypto markets.