Symbol of bear market beginning (5)
I believe the answer is:
totem
'symbol' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'bear market beginning' is the wordplay.
'bear' becomes 'tote' (I've seen this before).
'beginning' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'market' is 'm'.
'tote'+'m'='TOTEM'
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for totem that I've seen before include "Symbolic object with ritualistic associations" , "Emblem, maybe on pole" , "Symbol, emblem" , "Venerated emblem" , "Sign" .)