The first major sell-off day in the 1929 Wall Street Crash, October 24, was called Black Thursday.
On that Thursday, panic selling hit the New York Stock Exchange after weeks of falling prices. Trading volume reached a then-record level, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped sharply. A group of leading bankers bought heavily late in the session, temporarily calming the market and helping prices recover much of the day’s loss.
The calm did not last. Selling intensified again on October 28, known as Black Monday, and October 29, known as Black Tuesday. Black Tuesday is often remembered as the symbolic climax, but Black Thursday was the first dramatic breakdown in the crash’s most famous week.
The 1929 crash did not by itself cause the entire Great Depression, which also involved banking failures, debt, deflation, and economic policy choices. It did, however, badly damage confidence and exposed the risks of buying shares with borrowed money.