How many minutes did the 2010 Flash Crash's most extreme market disruption last?

The most extreme disruption of the 2010 Flash Crash lasted about 36 minutes, on May 6, 2010.

During that afternoon, U.S. markets plunged rapidly and then recovered much of the loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly fell almost 1,000 points, an unusually large move for such a short period. Some individual securities traded at startlingly low or high prices before normal conditions returned.

Investigations concluded that automated trading and a large sell order interacted with already stressed market conditions. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission later described how algorithmic trading, liquidity withdrawal, and feedback effects amplified the decline.

The event led to new safeguards, including circuit breakers and rules for handling clearly erroneous trades. It is called a flash crash because the main collapse and rebound happened within a very short interval rather than through a prolonged economic downturn.