The Nasdaq Composite reached its peak in March 2000 before the dot-com crash began.
The index closed at a record 5,048.62 on March 10, 2000. Technology and internet companies had attracted enormous investment, often despite limited revenue, large losses, or business models that depended mainly on continued access to new capital.
After the peak, rising interest rates, disappointing corporate results, and investor reassessment of technology valuations helped drive a prolonged decline. The Nasdaq fell roughly 78% from its March 2000 peak to its October 2002 low.
The dot-com crash did not mean that the internet lacked economic value. Companies such as Amazon survived and later expanded, while many highly valued startups failed. The key distinction is between the lasting technology transformation and the speculative prices assigned to many early internet businesses.