The 6 May 2010 market event in which U.S. stock indexes plunged and recovered within minutes was the Flash Crash.
During the afternoon of 6 May, major U.S. equity indexes fell rapidly, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly losing almost 1,000 points. Many securities experienced extreme temporary price movements, and much of the decline was reversed before the session ended.
Investigations linked the event to interactions among high-frequency trading, automated orders, market liquidity, and a large sell order. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission examined the episode in detail.
The Flash Crash led exchanges and regulators to strengthen safeguards, including mechanisms designed to pause trading when individual stocks move unusually far. It differs from a conventional bear market because its defining feature was extraordinary speed and partial intraday recovery.