Which 1929 trading day gave the Wall Street crash its famous name “Black Tuesday”?

Black Tuesday in the 1929 Wall Street Crash was October 29, 1929.

On that day, roughly 16 million shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, then an extraordinary volume. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 12%, adding to the collapse that had accelerated during the previous week. The selling followed years of speculative buying, widespread purchases on margin, slowing economic growth, and weakening confidence in highly valued companies.

Black Tuesday was not the first major break in the crash. Black Thursday, October 24, brought an early panic, while Black Monday and Black Tuesday, October 28 and 29, produced even steeper declines. The market continued falling afterward, and the Dow did not reach its eventual low until July 1932.

The date is sometimes confused with Black Thursday because October 24 is often described as the crash’s opening day. Black Tuesday is the specific name attached to October 29 and is widely treated as the symbolic climax of the initial 1929 collapse.