The sudden U.S. equity-market plunge of May 6, 2010, was nicknamed the Flash Crash.
During the afternoon of May 6, major U.S. stock indexes dropped rapidly and then recovered much of the loss within minutes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly fell nearly 1,000 points, one of its largest intraday point declines at that time.
Investigations by U.S. regulators linked the event to a combination of market conditions, automated trading, and a large sell order in E-mini S&P 500 futures. High-frequency trading and fragmented electronic markets helped amplify the temporary imbalance between buyers and sellers.
The crash led exchanges and regulators to introduce or strengthen safeguards, including circuit breakers and rules for clearly erroneous trades. It differed from a conventional bear market because the most dramatic movement was exceptionally fast and partially reversed the same day.