We looked at the history of the S&P 500 to find the 5 biggest bull markets, for those interested in tracking the market on their trading platform. The chart compares the length and size of the top 5 bull markets throughout the history of the S&P 500.
The tech boom bull market is the biggest and longest bull market ever recorded in the history of the S&P 500, returning a stunning 582% and lasting a total of 4494 days (12 years and 4 months).
This period of sustained growth started in 1987 and ended dramatically with the dot-com bust. It was fuelled by the end of the Cold War and the beginnings of the internet, which started to see the founding of tech companies. However, in 2000, the bubble burst and many dot-com startups went out of business, causing a fall in technology stocks and a consequent crash in the market.
The post-financial crisis recovery bull market was the second biggest ever and returned 401% over 11 years.
This bull market came off the back of the second biggest crash between 2007 and 2009, also known as the financial crisis caused by subprime mortgage lending, and was part of a long and slow recovery from this crisis when banks had to be bailed out. The period of sustained growth lasted 3999 days and came to a halt at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020.
During the period following World War II, there was another large bull market and the S&P 500 grew 266% as a result of global recovery after the war. This positive period lasted 2607 days, (7 years and 1 month) and is the only bull market on this list that came after a war.
Bull markets are typically seen in periods of global financial recovery, which often follow either market crashes or events that have a negative impact on the global economy.
The Reaganomics bull market saw the S&P 500 increase by 229%. A rapid period of growth occurred due to stark neoliberal economic policy throughout the Reagan era.
This bull market lasted 1839 days (5 years) and ended a few months before Black Monday in 1987, the worst day in the history of the stock market. On Black Monday, the S&P 500 dropped by over 20% in a day.
The mid-1970s to early 1980s bull market followed the oil shocks in the early 1970s and returned 125% by 1980. This period lasted 2247 days, (6 years and 2 months). Interestingly, the Reaganomics bull market was over a year shorter than the 1970s-1980s bull market, whilst returning almost double the amount of growth.
You can see the full details of the five biggest bull markets in the table below.
Rank |
Bull Markets |
Start date |
End date |
Days |
Years |
Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Tech boom bull market (1987-2000) |
4th December 1987 |
24th March 2000 |
£4,494 |
12.3 |
582.15% |
2 |
Post-financial crisis recovery bull market (2009-2020) |
9th March 2009 |
19th February 2020 |
£3,999 |
11 |
400.52% |
3 |
Post-World War II expansion bull market (1949-1956) |
13th June 1949 |
2nd August 1956 |
£2,607 |
7.1 |
266.35% |
4 |
Reaganomics bull market (1982-1987) |
12th August 1982 |
25th August 1987 |
£1,839 |
5 |
228.81% |
5 |
Mid 1970s to early 1980s bull market (1974-1981) |
3rd October 1974 |
28th November 1980 |
£2,248 |
6.2 |
125.63% |
We collected the start and end dates of the biggest bull markets in the history of the S&P 500, along with the exact number of days each bull market lasted and their returns, based on the definition of a bull market as a rise of 20% or more from the lowest close reached after a market decline to the next market high.
We delve into the data behind the September effect and stock market performance – what are the best and worst months?
We look at the latest statistics on global trading app Robinhood, including the number of users, revenue and profitability.
An experimental fund of 38 stocks chosen by ChatGPT is up 46.20% after 103 weeks of the experiment, beating the top 10 funds in the UK by more than 20 percentage points.
We are tracking the S&P 500’s value every day and comparing it to the worst market crashes of the last 50 years.
We have the latest statistics on ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing in the UK. Find out how ethical UK investors’ portfolios are.
What is the best investment in 202? See how different types of investments have performed so far this year and learn more about them.
Want to find out how the iPhone has fared in the UK over the past year? Read our guide for statistics on sales, market share, spending and more.
A total of 12.5 million ISAs were paid into in the 2022/2023 tax year. Discover all the latest ISA statistics in our guide.
We’ve explored the latest CFD trading statistics to see how many of us are trading with CFDs and to check the impact of the new regulations.