The 2010 U.S. market crash in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged nearly 1,000 points intraday was the 2010 Flash Crash.
On May 6, 2010, U.S. stock markets experienced an exceptionally rapid fall and partial recovery. The Dow lost nearly 1,000 points, representing about 9 percent, within minutes before recovering much of the decline. Some individual securities briefly traded at extremely low or high prices.
Investigations found that automated trading and market structure played major roles. A large sell order in E-mini S&P 500 futures contributed to an unstable environment in which high-frequency trading firms rapidly reduced liquidity. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission concluded that the event was worsened by interactions among automated systems.
The crash differed from a conventional bear market because most of the movement occurred within minutes and much of it reversed the same day. It led to new safeguards, including circuit breakers designed to pause trading during extreme price movements.