China’s stock exchange suffered a one-day 8.5% fall on August 24, 2015, during a global sell-off.
The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 8.49% on August 24, a day widely nicknamed “Black Monday” in financial reporting. The fall occurred after weeks of turbulence in Chinese equities and helped trigger declines in markets around the world.
Investors were concerned about China’s economic growth, falling commodity prices, currency policy, and the possibility that official support measures would not halt the decline. Chinese authorities had already taken steps such as interest-rate cuts and interventions aimed at stabilizing share prices.
The episode is often confused with the global Black Monday crash of 1987 because both events use the same nickname. They were separate events nearly three decades apart. The 2015 turmoil centered on Chinese equities and broader concerns about the world’s second-largest economy, while the 1987 event began with a dramatic U.S. market collapse.