The 1929 Wall Street Crash reached its notorious Black Tuesday on October 29, 1929.
Black Tuesday followed Black Thursday on October 24 and Black Monday on October 28. On October 29, investors traded roughly 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange, an enormous volume for the era, while prices fell sharply.
The crash did not single-handedly cause the Great Depression, but it exposed major weaknesses in the economy. Many investors had bought shares with borrowed money, known as buying on margin. When prices dropped, brokers demanded repayment, forcing more selling and pushing prices still lower.
A common mix-up is treating Black Tuesday as the entire crash. The decline continued after October 29, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average did not reach its final low until July 1932. The crash became a lasting symbol of the economic crisis that spread across the United States and internationally.