The 2010 Flash Crash was the brief market collapse in which major U.S. stock indexes plunged and then rapidly recovered on May 6, 2010.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 1,000 points during the session, including about 600 points in a few minutes. Prices in individual securities became highly disordered, and some trades executed at extremely low or high prices before being canceled under market rules.
Regulators concluded that a large automated sell order in E-mini S&P 500 futures interacted with high-frequency trading and market fragmentation. The interaction reduced liquidity and accelerated the decline, although later investigations described the event using more than one contributing factor.
The crash demonstrated how electronic markets could move at extraordinary speed. It led to changes including circuit breakers and rules designed to prevent trades at clearly erroneous prices. It was not the same as the sustained bear markets of 1929 or 2008.