Stocks will need to see a 'violent' plunge of up to 6% in a single day before a bottom is reached and a recovery can begin, says market veteran Dennis Gartman

• Stocks will remain bearish until a massive single-day fall happens, Dennis Gartman told Bloomberg Radio.
• "We'll have one day when we'll be down 5% or 6% and that'll be the final selling pressure," he said Monday.

Stocks will remain bearish until a "violent, downward movement" occurs that marks a bottom in the market, Dennis Gartman told Bloomberg Radio on Monday.

The University of Akron Endowment chair explained that investors are still comfortable buying the dip, preventing the market from truly bottoming. But a massive single-day plunge will finally push them out of the market, clearing the way for a recovery to start.

"We'll have one day when we'll be down 5% or 6%, and that'll be the final selling pressure," Gartman said. "That'll end the bear market."

For now, he told Bloomberg that investors should "be as conservative as one can be," adding that in February he reduced his exposure to stocks and increased his exposure to gold.

Gartman cautioned that he's missed the mark on bearish trends in the past. In 2021, the S&P 500 rose a staggering 27%, contrary to Gartman's prediction.

And this year, "the Gartman Letter" publisher has been saying markets are bearish, maintaining that position as the Federal Reserve raises rates to cool off high inflation and while trying to avoid a recession.

The stock market's recent sell-off is "predicated upon the fact that the monetary authorities, especially here in the US that have been so expansionary for such a long period of time, are now being contractionary," Gartman said.

He added that most of the woes the Fed now faces are self inflicted and a result of "their own expansionary policies over the course of the past near-decade."