FYI: Years ago, after learning in school that no two fingerprints are alike, my kids spent weeks trying to match their fingerprints to other people to disprove their teacher. Besides the practical aspects of having a limited number of test subjects, they never came close to proving the teacher wrong (although they kept thinking they were right). While fingerprints do have similarities, trying to find two identical ones is near impossible.1
Much like the uniqueness of fingerprints, finding two bear markets that are identical is almost impossible. All bear markets involve market stress, but no two are alike. A variety of factors can cause them, including unexpected changes in monetary policy, political events, overvaluations, bank failures, natural disasters, wars, and deleveraging in various forms and combinations.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.etf.com/sections/etf-industry-perspective/vanguard-fingerprints-and-bear-markets?EXCMPGN=EX:PC:FAS:Sustaining
