The scariest thing about a bear market isn’t the crash. What really tortures people is the long consolidation. Most of the time, the market just moves sideways, rebounds, and then falls back again. The real crash is just a fleeting moment in the cycle. The market spends 90% of the time wearing down your patience, and only 10% of the time deciding your fate. Many people aren’t crushed to death, they’re slowly worn out by the consolidation.