Black Thursday, the first major selling wave of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, occurred on October 24, 1929.
That morning, panic selling overwhelmed the New York Stock Exchange after years of rapidly rising share prices. Trading volume reached a then-record level, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell sharply. A group of leading bankers bought heavily traded shares in an attempt to restore confidence, temporarily stabilizing prices.
The crisis did not end on Black Thursday. Selling returned on the following Monday and Tuesday, October 28 and 29, with Black Tuesday becoming the crash’s most famous day. The market then continued declining for several years before reaching its low in 1932.
A common mix-up is treating Black Thursday as the entire crash. It was an early and dramatic stage of a wider collapse caused by speculation, margin buying, weakening economic conditions, and financial distress. The crash helped usher in the Great Depression, although it was not the sole cause.