The S&P 500 entered the fastest bear market in its history during the 2020 COVID-19 crash, taking 33 days.
The index fell from its February 19, 2020, record close to a bear-market threshold on March 12, a decline of at least 20 percent. The speed reflected rapidly spreading COVID-19, emergency restrictions, collapsing economic expectations, and extreme uncertainty.
The market then recovered unusually quickly compared with many earlier crashes, helped by aggressive monetary policy, fiscal support, and expectations of eventual reopening and vaccines. A bear market is commonly defined as a fall of at least 20 percent from a recent closing high; that definition differs from the informal term “crash.”