On what date did the 'Flash Crash' occur in 2010?

The 2010 “Flash Crash” occurred on May 6, 2010.

During that Thursday’s U.S. trading session, major stock indexes suddenly plunged in a matter of minutes before recovering much of the loss. The sharpest movement began at about 2:32 p.m. Eastern Time, and the market’s extreme volatility lasted roughly 36 minutes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly lost almost 1,000 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also dropped sharply.

Investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission linked the episode to a combination of unusually stressed markets, automated trading, and a large algorithmic sell order in E-mini S&P 500 futures. The event exposed weaknesses in how fragmented electronic markets handled sudden illiquidity.

The date is sometimes confused with May 5 or May 7, 2010, which were ordinary surrounding trading days rather than the crash itself. The episode also should not be confused with the 1987 Black Monday crash or the 1929 Wall Street crash. New safeguards introduced afterward included circuit breakers and mechanisms designed to pause trading during disorderly price moves.