The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 230.07 on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929.
That close represented a loss of 30.57 points, or about 11.7 percent, during one of the most dramatic sessions of the Wall Street Crash. Trading volume reached roughly 16.4 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange, a record at the time, as investors rushed to sell.
Black Tuesday was the third major panic session in less than a week. Black Thursday, October 24, had brought heavy selling, while Black Monday, October 28, saw the Dow fall nearly 13 percent. The Tuesday collapse intensified public alarm and became the crash's most famous date, although the market's decline unfolded over several days.
The date is also easy to misremember because October 28 produced a larger one-day percentage fall than October 29. The 1929 crash did not single-handedly cause every aspect of the Great Depression, but it badly damaged confidence and exposed the fragility of an economy built partly on speculation and margin buying. The Dow would not regain its September 1929 closing peak until 1954.