The U.S. financial panic that peaked in October 1907 after a failed copper speculation was the Panic of 1907.
The crisis began when an attempt to corner the stock of United Copper Company collapsed. The failure damaged confidence in trust companies, which were less regulated than commercial banks and held large deposits. Depositors rushed to withdraw funds, creating a liquidity crisis in New York.
Financier J. P. Morgan organized private support for threatened banks and the New York Stock Exchange. The panic eventually helped convince political leaders that the United States needed a central banking system. The Federal Reserve was created in 1913.
The Panic of 1907 is sometimes confused with an ordinary stock-market decline, but it was also a banking and trust-company crisis. Its consequences extended beyond Wall Street and influenced major financial reform.