Black Tuesday, the fourth major sell-off day of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, occurred on October 29, 1929.
The New York Stock Exchange saw about 16 million shares traded that day, a record at the time. Prices fell sharply as investors rushed to sell, following heavy declines on Black Thursday, Black Monday, and Black Tuesday itself.
The crash did not single-handedly cause the Great Depression. It was one major event in a broader economic breakdown involving bank failures, falling production, debt, deflation, and international financial problems. However, the crash badly damaged confidence and helped expose the risks of buying stocks with borrowed money.
A common mix-up is treating Black Tuesday as the only day of the crash. The market’s decline unfolded over several sessions in October and continued afterward. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ultimately fell much farther, reaching its low in July 1932.