The April 14, 2000 plunge in technology shares after the internet boom began bursting is commonly called the dot-com crash.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 9.7% on April 14, 2000, its largest one-day percentage decline at that time. The fall followed a period in which internet-related companies attracted extraordinary investor enthusiasm, often despite limited revenue or continuing losses.
The Nasdaq had reached a record closing level of 5,048.62 on March 10, 2000. As investors reassessed valuations, many technology and internet stocks collapsed. The downturn continued for years, and the Nasdaq ultimately lost about 78% of its peak value by October 2002.
The crash is sometimes treated as identical to the broader dot-com bubble. More precisely, the bubble was the period of extreme valuation, while the crash and subsequent bear market were the collapse that followed. The episode also differed from the 2008 crisis because it centered primarily on equity valuations rather than a banking-system breakdown caused by residential mortgages.