During the 2010 Flash Crash, approximately how many Dow Jones points disappeared at the session’s low?

During the 2010 Flash Crash, nearly 1,000 Dow Jones points disappeared at the session’s low.

On May 6, 2010, major U.S. stock indexes plunged within minutes before recovering much of the loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 1,000 points from its earlier level, an unprecedented intraday point move at the time. Many individual securities also experienced extremely unusual prices.

Investigations found that automated trading and market structure played central roles. A large sell order in E-mini S&P 500 futures interacted with high-frequency trading and reduced liquidity. As bids disappeared, prices moved rapidly; later, trading systems and market participants helped stabilize conditions.

The Flash Crash was not a conventional multi-year bear market like the Great Depression collapse. It was a short-lived market event involving equities, futures, and exchange safeguards. The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission studied the episode, and regulators strengthened controls intended to prevent similar disorder.