I've recently been observing an interesting phenomenon in a bull market, which is the typical pattern of slow rise followed by sharp decline. Many people don't actually realize they're in a bull market because, during its formation, everyone is skeptical. It's only when the market has risen several times, hit new all-time highs, and stocks are showing five- or tenfold gains everywhere that people admit it's a bull market.

But in reality, the trend of a bull market has already been forming in the shadows. Continuous inflows of capital keep pouring in, daily pushing the market higher. Even if it gets hammered down in the morning, it gets bought back up in the afternoon, and by the last half hour, funds come in to rescue the market, ultimately closing higher. This is the result of the bulls gaining the upper hand in a full-day battle.

Because of this, the daily gains aren't actually that exaggerated. After all, there's always bulls and bears fighting each other every day, and when negative news appears, the market quickly digests it, sometimes even interpreting bad news as good. Under the influence of these multiple factors, a pattern emerges: although the market rises every day, the gains fluctuate wildly—big jumps one day, small gains the next, repeating over and over.

The problem lies here. This process accumulates a large amount of profit-taking, and many investors simply don't have true bull market thinking—they're just speculating, selling when the market rises to a certain point. When one day the market suddenly drops and isn't pulled back up, these speculators, along with those still doubting the bull market, will all start selling, ultimately forming the "sharp decline" part of the slow rise and sharp fall pattern.

This is why a bull market looks so tumultuous, yet it can still hit new highs in the end. Mindset determines trading behavior; most people lack a bull market mentality, so every correction triggers panic. But the power of incremental capital ultimately continues to push the market upward.