Did you ever wonder where Did "Bulls" and "Bears" Come From?

The historical record is pretty clear: The bear came before the bull. Most evidence suggests it originated with a proverb that cautions against the temptation to

“sell the bear’s skin before one has caught the bear”

(sort of like counting your chickens before they hatch, but with a lot more gore).

By the 18th century, the phrase “bear-skin jobber” had become a pejorative for sellers, especially the disreputable ones who actively bet that prices will fall.

“Thus every dissembler, every false friend, every secret cheat, every bear-skin jobber, has a cloven foot,”.

There’s less historical evidence for the rise of the term “bull,” but it seems to have been chosen for its symbolic opposition to the bear.

Some people say the terms refer to the ways the animals attack their prey: Bears swipe downward with their paws while bulls thrust upwards with their horns. Poetic, but there’s no real evidence that the metaphor had anything to do with the terms’ original use in a markets context.