What name is given to the 6 May 2010 US market plunge and rapid recovery?

The 6 May 2010 US market plunge and rapid recovery is called the Flash Crash.

During the afternoon of 6 May, major US equity indexes dropped dramatically within minutes before recovering much of the loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly fell nearly 1,000 points, then recovered rapidly. Some individual securities briefly traded at wildly distorted prices.

Investigations found that automated high-frequency trading and a large sell order in E-mini S&P 500 futures interacted in a market already under stress. The event demonstrated how electronic markets could transmit and magnify selling at extraordinary speed.

The Flash Crash was not a conventional multi-day bear market. Its defining feature was the extreme intraday movement followed by a partial rebound. Authorities later introduced or strengthened safeguards, including circuit breakers and mechanisms for reviewing clearly erroneous trades. The event also encouraged closer examination of algorithmic trading and market structure.