How many shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange on Black Tuesday in 1929?
Answer
16.4 million shares
About 16.4 million shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929. The extraordinary volume reflected the desperate selling that marked the climax of the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
Black Tuesday followed Black Monday, when prices had already fallen heavily. On October 29, waves of sell orders overwhelmed the exchange’s ability to process transactions smoothly, and many shares changed hands at sharply lower prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 12% that day.
The crash did not single-handedly create the entire Great Depression, but it severely damaged confidence and exposed weaknesses in the economy and financial system. Heavy speculation, buying stocks on margin, unequal wealth distribution, and weakening industrial conditions were among the factors associated with the broader collapse. The 16.4-million-share figure is often cited as a record for its era, not as a modern all-time volume record.