In your opinion do you think the current downtrend is significant in the grand scheme of things, at least crypto wise, or do you think we're still well into a bullish trend?
We can't know for sure; this is because the market is highly volatile and unpredictable; however, yes, we are still in the bullish trend because the bull market ended when the price went above the previous all-time high. Think of it this way: the price of Bitcoin went to $69k, then it started going down from there, which was the beginning of the bear cycle, and it went deep down to $15k or something. Then, it started recovering, and slowly crossed the previous all-time high, which marked the beginning of the bull market.
I realise that we can't be in the green forever, so how do you know exactly when we are in the bear cycle, before it actually happens, that is if we are not already in it?
We are not in the bear cycle because we are still around $100k. The bear cycle would be when we go somewhere around $70k or something, or even below that point. For now, even if the price goes down temporarily, we can think of it as a strong correction.