Black Tuesday was the nickname given to October 29, 1929, the most infamous trading day of the U.S. stock-market crash.
On Black Tuesday, investors sold about 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Prices plunged, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost roughly 12% of its value. The session followed Black Thursday on October 24 and Black Monday on October 28, when earlier waves of selling had already shaken confidence.
The crash did not by itself cause every feature of the Great Depression. It was part of a wider breakdown involving bank failures, falling production, debt problems, unemployment, and reduced international trade. Nevertheless, the collapse of share prices severely damaged confidence and exposed the risks of buying stocks with borrowed money.
Black Tuesday is sometimes used as a name for the entire Wall Street Crash, but technically it identifies one date. The U.S. market’s decline continued after October 1929, and the Dow did not reach its pre-crash peak again until 1954.