What nickname was given to the extreme U.S. market plunge on May 6, 2010?

The extreme U.S. market plunge on May 6, 2010, was called the Flash Crash.

During the afternoon of May 6, major U.S. equity indexes dropped rapidly and then recovered much of the loss within minutes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly fell nearly 1,000 points, or about 9 percent, before rebounding.

Investigations found that high-frequency trading, automated orders, and stressed market conditions interacted in ways that amplified the decline. A later U.S. Department of Justice case identified trader Navinder Singh Sarao’s spoofing activity as a contributing factor, but the event reflected a broader market-structure problem rather than one simple cause.

The crash prompted changes to trading safeguards, including circuit breakers for individual stocks and market-wide interruptions. It is distinct from a conventional bear market because its most dramatic fall and recovery happened in a very short period.