The 2010 Flash Crash briefly erased nearly $1 trillion in U.S. equity value.
On May 6, 2010, major U.S. stock indexes plunged within minutes before recovering much of the loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 1,000 points, or roughly 9%, during the session. Many individual securities also experienced extreme and short-lived price movements.
Investigations attributed the episode to an interaction between existing market stress, automated trading, and a large sell order. A later U.S. investigation charged Navinder Singh Sarao with using spoofing and layering strategies that contributed to the conditions, while the event itself involved a broader market mechanism rather than one simple cause.
The crash prompted reforms to market structure, including clearer procedures for halting trading and reviewing clearly erroneous transactions. It is distinct from the 1987 Black Monday crash: the 2010 event unfolded in minutes and largely reversed before the session ended.