The 1992 European currency crisis that caused sharp stock-market falls across Europe was called Black Wednesday.
Black Wednesday occurred on September 16, 1992, when the United Kingdom withdrew the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism after failing to keep it above its required lower limit. The episode followed intense pressure from currency traders, who believed the pound was overvalued and difficult to defend at the set exchange rate.
The crisis damaged confidence in the ERM and forced Italy to suspend its lira from the mechanism as well. The event is primarily remembered as a currency crisis, but it also produced substantial volatility in European financial markets. It is sometimes confused with Black Monday, the worldwide stock-market crash of October 19, 1987, and Black Thursday, a label used for the sharp U.S. market decline on October 24, 1929.