The unusual 2010 event in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged nearly 1,000 points in minutes was the Flash Crash.
On May 6, 2010, U.S. markets experienced an exceptionally rapid fall and partial rebound. The Dow dropped about 1,000 points, or roughly 9%, during the session, with the steepest movement occurring within minutes. Some individual securities briefly traded at absurdly low or high prices before normal trading returned.
Investigations identified a combination of existing market stress, automated trading, liquidity withdrawal, and a large sell order as important factors. In 2015, U.S. authorities charged trader Navinder Singh Sarao with contributing to the event through spoofing-related activity; he later pleaded guilty. The crash differed from traditional panics because electronic market structure and high-speed algorithms played a central role.