The official name of the 2010 event when U.S. stock indexes plunged and quickly rebounded was the 2010 Flash Crash.
On May 6, 2010, the Dow Jones Industrial Average suddenly lost about 1,000 points, roughly 9%, within minutes before recovering much of the decline. Individual securities briefly traded at extraordinarily low prices, revealing how automated order systems could interact in unstable ways.
Investigations concluded that a large automated sell order in E-mini S&P 500 futures helped intensify the episode, while high-frequency trading and fragmented market structure amplified the movement. The event was not simply a conventional panic caused by a single news announcement.
The crash led U.S. regulators and exchanges to strengthen safeguards, including market-wide circuit breakers and rules for handling clearly erroneous trades. It is distinct from the August 24, 2015 flash crash, which also involved abrupt price drops but was a separate event. The 2010 episode helped make algorithmic market structure a central topic in financial regulation.