The 2010 market event in which the Dow Jones plunged about 1,000 points within minutes was the Flash Crash.
On May 6, 2010, US equity markets experienced an exceptionally rapid decline and partial rebound. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 1,000 points, nearly 9%, in a matter of minutes before recovering much of the loss. Some individual securities briefly traded at extremely low prices.
Investigations found that automated and high-frequency trading played an important role. A large sell order in E-mini S&P 500 futures interacted with existing algorithms and thin liquidity, producing a feedback loop of selling and cancellations. The US Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission later described the event in a joint report.
The Flash Crash differed from a traditional bear market because the most dramatic move happened intraday and was partly reversed quickly. The event encouraged new safeguards, including stricter market-wide circuit breakers and rules intended to address clearly erroneous trades.