Black Tuesday was the 1929 Wall Street Crash day when about 16 million shares changed hands.
The date was October 29, 1929. Investors rushed to sell stocks, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 30.57 points, or nearly 12%. The unprecedented trading volume overwhelmed the New York Stock Exchange’s systems and became a powerful symbol of the panic.
Black Tuesday followed Black Monday, when the Dow had already fallen almost 13%. Black Thursday, five days earlier, had also featured disorderly selling, although prominent bankers temporarily supported selected stocks. The successive shocks destroyed confidence in the idea that prices would quickly recover.
The crash marked the end of the speculative boom of the 1920s, but it was not by itself the complete cause of the Great Depression. The economy was also affected by bank failures, debt, reduced demand, industrial contraction, and international monetary problems. The Dow did not regain its September 1929 peak until 1954, showing how long the market’s recovery took.