Effective trading requires applying the appropriate strategy to a specific market condition. In bear markets, the concept of a "raid" is especially useful — and one that can be realized using the trade setups of early technician Richard D. Wyckoff.

The raid concept has interesting parallels outside the world of trading. The destruction and theft of war-making capital by cavalry raiders was an important strategy during the U.S. Civil War. A model for the bear-raider trader from that era is legendary Confederate Cavalry General Nathan Bedford Forrest — the only enemy leader who stirred fear in Union General Ulysses S. Grant, according to Archer Jones in his book Civil War Command and Strategy. Forrest’s slashing, lightening-quick raids wreaked havoc upon Union Army supply depots, rail transport, and horse corrals. The following tenets, attitudes, and actions for the modern bear-raider trader are collected from the annals of military doctrine and Civil War history.