How many Dow Jones points did the 2010 Flash Crash erase in minutes?

The 2010 Flash Crash erased nearly 1,000 Dow Jones Industrial Average points in minutes. On May 6, 2010, the Dow fell about 1,000 points, or roughly 9%, before recovering much of the loss later that day.

The plunge affected U.S. equities, futures, options, and exchange-traded funds. Some securities briefly traded at extraordinarily low prices, while others showed unusual spikes. The speed and breadth of the move raised immediate questions about computerized trading and market structure.

Investigations later concluded that a large automated sale of E-mini S&P 500 futures interacted with high-frequency trading and limited available liquidity. In 2015, U.S. authorities charged trader Navinder Singh Sarao in connection with spoofing and layering, though the event involved complex market-wide dynamics.

The figure is often rounded to 1,000 points. It was not a full-day decline of exactly that amount, and the Dow recovered much of the loss before the session ended. The episode led to new safeguards, including circuit breakers.