The 2010 U.S. market event when the Dow briefly plunged nearly 1,000 points was called the Flash Crash.
On May 6, 2010, U.S. equity markets experienced an extremely rapid decline and partial recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 1,000 points, or approximately 9 percent, within minutes before recovering much of the loss. Prices in individual shares and exchange-traded products became unusually distorted during the episode.
Investigations by U.S. regulators found that automated high-frequency trading and a large sell order in E-mini S&P 500 futures contributed to the market dynamics. The event also exposed weaknesses in market structure, including fragmented trading venues, liquidity withdrawal, and safeguards that did not operate consistently across products.
The Flash Crash was not the same as Black Monday in 1987 or the 2008 financial crisis. It was a very short-lived market microstructure event rather than a multi-year collapse caused by a broad banking or asset-price crisis. Regulators later introduced and strengthened measures such as single-stock circuit breakers and limit-up/limit-down rules.