Black Tuesday, the second major collapse day of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, occurred on October 29, 1929. On that day, approximately 16 million shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, setting a trading-volume record that lasted for decades.
The crash had begun with severe selling on October 24, later called Black Thursday, and intensified on October 28, known as Black Monday. Black Tuesday became the most famous date because panic selling accelerated and prices fell dramatically. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had reached a peak in September before losing much of its value over the following weeks.
The crash did not by itself cause every problem associated with the Great Depression, but it damaged confidence and contributed to a broader economic downturn. Bank failures, falling production, debt, and unemployment deepened the crisis. A common mix-up is treating Black Tuesday as the only crash day; historians usually describe the 1929 collapse as a sequence of turbulent sessions.