The 2010 market event was the Flash Crash, a rapid temporary plunge in U.S. stocks on May 6, 2010.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 1,000 points, or roughly 9%, within minutes. Many individual securities experienced extreme price movements, including trades at bizarrely low or high levels. The market recovered much of the decline before the session ended.
Investigations identified a large sell order and the interaction of automated high-frequency trading systems as important factors. A later U.S. Department of Justice case concluded that trader Navinder Singh Sarao used spoofing orders that contributed to the conditions, although the event resulted from a complex interaction rather than one simple mechanical cause.
The Flash Crash led exchanges and regulators to strengthen safeguards, including market-wide circuit breakers and procedures for canceling clearly erroneous trades. It differed from a conventional crash because the most dramatic movement happened within minutes and was partly reversed the same day.