The 2010 Flash Crash was the event when U.S. stocks plunged and largely recovered within minutes.
On May 6, 2010, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 1,000 points, or roughly 9 percent, in a matter of minutes. Many securities experienced extreme temporary price movements, with some trades executed at prices far outside their earlier levels. Much of the decline was reversed before the session ended.
Investigations linked the event to a combination of high-frequency trading, automated order systems, market liquidity conditions, and a large futures transaction. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission concluded that no single simple explanation captured every part of the episode.
The crash prompted reforms to market structure, including stronger controls for extreme price movements and rules for handling clearly erroneous trades. It differs from conventional crashes because its most dramatic phase was extremely rapid and partially reversed the same day.