Black Tuesday was the 1929 U.S. stock-market crash day with the highest trading volume at the time. It occurred on October 29, 1929, when panic selling overwhelmed the New York Stock Exchange.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell roughly 12% that day, following a decline of about 13% on Black Monday, October 28. More than 16 million shares changed hands, setting a trading-volume record that stood for decades.
Black Tuesday is commonly treated as the symbolic climax of the Wall Street Crash. However, the market’s decline did not begin on that date and did not end immediately afterward. Share prices continued falling, and the Dow ultimately reached its bear-market low in 1932.
The crash was one part of the Great Depression’s history, not its sole cause. Bank failures, reduced demand, debt burdens, policy choices, and international economic problems also contributed to the severe worldwide downturn.