Which U.S. stock-index futures market helped amplify the 2010 Flash Crash through automated trading?

The E-mini S&P 500 futures market helped amplify the 2010 Flash Crash through automated trading. On May 6, 2010, a large sell order in the E-mini S&P 500 futures contract contributed to rapidly worsening market conditions when liquidity was already fragile.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission later described how automated execution, high-frequency trading, and feedback between futures and equity markets intensified the decline. Prices in many securities moved violently, and some trades briefly appeared at extraordinarily low or high levels.

The E-mini is a highly liquid electronically traded futures contract based on the S&P 500 Index. It is not the same thing as the cash S&P 500 index or a Dow Jones futures contract. Regulators concluded that the market recovered quickly after coordinated safeguards and trading pauses helped restore orderly conditions.