The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a pre-crash closing peak of 381.17 on September 3, 1929.
That record marked the high point of the speculative boom of the 1920s. Share prices had climbed rapidly as investors bought stocks with borrowed money and expected further gains. The market then became unstable, and sharp declines appeared during September and October before the October crash days.
The 381.17 figure is a closing value, not an intraday quotation. This distinction matters because historical market records often report both the highest price reached during a session and the final value at the bell. The Dow later fell to 41.22 in July 1932, showing the extraordinary scale of the decline.
The 1929 peak was not recovered until 1954. The Dow was a much narrower index then than it is today, so its historical level cannot be compared directly with modern index values without considering changes in its construction.