How long did the 2010 Flash Crash’s most dramatic market plunge last?

The 2010 Flash Crash’s most dramatic market plunge lasted about 36 minutes.

On May 6, 2010, major U.S. stock indexes fell rapidly and then recovered much of the decline before the trading day ended. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 1,000 points, at that time its largest intraday point decline. The steepest fall and rebound occurred within roughly 36 minutes.

Investigations by U.S. regulators found that a large automated sell order interacted with high-frequency trading and market conditions to amplify the move. The event demonstrated how electronic trading systems could transmit pressure across markets at extraordinary speed. It was not a conventional multi-day bear market like the crashes of 1929 or 1987.

The crash also exposed weaknesses in market safeguards. Some individual securities traded at implausibly low prices, while others briefly spiked. Exchanges and regulators subsequently strengthened circuit breakers and other controls. In 2015, U.S. authorities charged Navinder Singh Sarao with contributing to the event through spoofing-related trading; he later pleaded guilty.