The 2010 Flash Crash occurred on May 6, 2010, when U.S. markets plunged within minutes.
That afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average suddenly fell about 1,000 points, or roughly 9%, before recovering much of the loss. Some individual securities briefly traded at extraordinarily low or high prices, creating disorder across electronic markets.
Investigations by U.S. regulators concluded that a large automated sell order in E-mini S&P 500 futures helped interact with existing market conditions and high-frequency trading activity. The event showed how automated systems could amplify a temporary imbalance in buying and selling.
The Flash Crash did not resemble a traditional, months-long bear market. It was a rapid liquidity event, and exchanges later introduced or strengthened mechanisms such as circuit breakers and single-stock price bands. A 2015 U.S. court case convicted trader Navinder Singh Sarao for contributing to the crash through spoofing.