The sudden May 6, 2010 U.S. market collapse and rebound is called the Flash Crash.
During the event, major U.S. equity indexes fell sharply within minutes and then recovered much of the decline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly lost nearly 1,000 points, its largest intraday point drop at that time. Prices in some individual securities also moved to extreme levels before normal trading returned.
Investigations concluded that automated trading and a large sell order interacted with stressed market conditions and high-frequency trading systems. The event showed how rapidly electronic markets could amplify a disturbance when liquidity disappeared from some venues and algorithms responded to one another.
The Flash Crash was not the same as a conventional bear market. It unfolded within one trading session and was followed by a substantial recovery. Regulators subsequently introduced or strengthened mechanisms such as single-stock trading pauses and market-wide circuit breakers. A 2015 U.S. court case later convicted trader Navinder Singh Sarao of spoofing-related conduct connected with the event.