The U.S. financial panic that followed failed copper-market speculation in 1907 was the Panic of 1907.
The crisis began after an attempt by F. Augustus Heinze and others to corner the stock of United Copper Company collapsed. The failure damaged confidence in several banks and trust companies connected to the speculators. Depositors then rushed to withdraw funds, creating a severe liquidity crisis.
J. P. Morgan organized private-sector support for troubled institutions and helped persuade banks to cooperate. His intervention became one of the most famous episodes in American financial history, although it did not represent a modern central-bank bailout.
The panic convinced many policymakers that the United States needed a permanent lender of last resort. That political and financial pressure helped lead to the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913. The event is sometimes called the Knickerbocker Crisis because the Knickerbocker Trust Company became a prominent casualty.