List of stock market crashes and bear markets


This is a list of stock market crashes and bear markets.

Table


NameDateCountryCausesRef
Tulip mania BubbleA bubble in the Netherlands during which contracts for bulbs of tulips reached extraordinarily high prices, and suddenly collapsed
The Mississippi BubbleBanque Royale by John Law stopped payments of its note in exchange for specie and as result caused economic collapse in France.
South Sea Bubble of 1720Affected early European stock markets, during early days of chartered joint stock companies
Bengal Bubble of 1769Primarily caused by the British East India Company, whose shares fell from £276 in December 1768 to £122 in 1784
Credit crisis of 1772
Financial Crisis of 1791–92Shares of First bank of US boom and bust in Aug and Sept 1791. Groundwork of Alexander Hamilton's cooperation with the Bank of New York to end this event would be crucial in ending the Panic of 1792 next year.
Panic of 1796–97A series of downturns in Atlantic credit markets led to broader commercial downturns in Great Britain and the United States.
Panic of 1819
Panic of 1825
Panic of 183710 May 1837
Panic of 1847
Panic of 1857
Panic of 1866
Black Friday24 Sep 1869
Panic of 18739 May 1873Initiated the Long Depression in the United States and much of Europe
Paris Bourse crash of 188219 Jan 1882
Panic of 1884
EncilhamentoLasting 3 years, 1890–1893, a boom and bust process that boomed in late 1880s and burst on early 1890s, causing a collapse in the Brazilian economy and aggravating an already unstable political situation.
Panic of 1893
Panic of 1896
Panic of 1901Lasting 3 years, the market was spooked by the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, coupled with a severe drought later the same year.
Panic of 1907Lasting over a year, markets took fright after U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt had threatened to rein in the monopolies that flourished in various industrial sectors, notably railways.
Wall Street Crash of 192924 Oct 1929Lasting over 4 years, the bursting of the speculative bubble in shares led to further selling as people who had borrowed money to buy shares had to cash them in, when their loans were called in. Also called the Great Crash or the Wall Street Crash, leading to the Great Depression.
Recession of 1937–38Lasting around a year, this share price fall was triggered by an economic recession within the Great Depression and doubts about the effectiveness of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policy.
Kennedy Slide of 196228 05 1962Also known as the 'Flash Crash of 1962'
Brazilian Markets Crash of 1971Lasting through the 1970s and early-1980s, this was the end of a boom that started in 1969, compounded by the 1970s energy crisis coupled with early 1980s Latin American debt crisis.
1973–74 stock market crashLasting 23 months, dramatic rise in oil prices, the miners' strike and the downfall of the Heath government.
Souk Al-Manakh stock market crash
Black Monday19 Oct 1987Infamous stock market crash that represented the greatest one-day percentage decline in U.S. stock market history, culminating in a bear market after a more than 20% plunge in the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average. Among the primary causes of the chaos were program trading and illiquidity, both of which fueled the vicious decline for the day as stocks continued lower even as volume grew lighter. Today, circuit breakers are in place to prevent a repeat of Black Monday. After a 7% drop, trading would be suspended for 15 minutes, with the same 15 minute suspension kicking in after a 13% drop. However, in the event of a 20% drop, trading would be shut down for the remainder of the day.
Rio de Janeiro Stock Exchange CrashRio de Janeiro Stock Exchange Crash, due to its weak internal controls and absence of credit discipline, that led to its collapse, and of which it never recovered
Friday the 13th mini-crash13 Oct 1989Failed leveraged buyout of United Airlines causes crash
Early 1990s recessionIraq invaded Kuwait in July 1990, causing oil prices to increase. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 18% in three months, from 2,911.63 on July 3 to 2,381.99 on October 16,1990. This recession lasted approximately 8 months.
Japanese asset price bubbleLasting approximately twenty years, through at least the end of 2011, share and property price bubble bursts and turns into a long deflationary recession. Some of the key economic events during the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble include the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the Dot-com bubble. In addition, more recent economic events, such as the late-2000s financial crisis and August 2011 stock markets fall have prolonged this period.
Black Wednesday16 Sep 1992The Conservative government was forced to withdraw the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism after they were unable to keep sterling above its agreed lower limit.
1997 Asian financial crisis2 Jul 1997 Investors deserted emerging Asian shares, including an overheated Hong Kong stock market. Crashes occur in Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Philippines, and elsewhere, reaching a climax in the October 27, 1997 mini-crash.
October 27, 1997, mini-crash27 Oct 1997Global stock market crash that was caused by an economic crisis in Asia.
1998 Russian financial crisis17 Aug 1998The Russian government devalues the ruble, defaults on domestic debt, and declares a moratorium on payment to foreign creditors.
Dot-com bubble10 Mar 2000Collapse of a technology bubble.
Economic effects arising from the September 11 attacks11 Sep 2001The September 11 attacks caused global stock markets to drop sharply. The attacks themselves caused approximately $40 billion in insurance losses, making it one of the largest insured events ever. See world economic effects arising from the September 11 attacks.
Stock market downturn of 20029 Oct 2002Downturn in stock prices during 2002 in stock exchanges across the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe. After recovering from lows reached following the September 11 attacks, indices slid steadily starting in March 2002, with dramatic declines in July and September leading to lows last reached in 1997 and 1998. See stock market downturn of 2002.
Chinese stock bubble of 200727 Feb 2007The SSE Composite Index of the Shanghai Stock Exchange tumbles 9% from unexpected selloffs, the largest drop in 10 years, triggering major drops in worldwide stock markets.
United States bear market of 2007–200911 Oct 2007From their peaks in October 2007 until their closing lows in early March 2009, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 all suffered declines of over 50%, marking the worst stock market crash since the Great Depression era.
Financial crisis of 2007–0816 Sep 2008On September 16, 2008, failures of large financial institutions in the United States, due primarily to exposure of securities of packaged subprime loans and credit default swaps issued to insure these loans and their issuers, rapidly devolved into a global crisis resulting in a number of bank failures in Europe and sharp reductions in the value of equities and commodities worldwide. The failure of banks in Iceland resulted in a devaluation of the Icelandic króna and threatened the government with bankruptcy. Iceland was able to secure an emergency loan from the IMF in November. Later on, U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act into law, creating a Troubled Asset Relief Program to purchase failing bank assets. Had disastrous effects on the world economy along with world trade.
2009 Dubai debt standstill27 Nov 2009Dubai requested a debt deferment following its massive renovation and development projects, as well as the Great Recession. The announcement caused global stock markets to drop.
European sovereign debt crisis27 Apr 2010Standard & Poor's downgraded Greece's sovereign credit rating to junk four days after the activation of a €45-billion EU–IMF bailout, triggering the decline of stock markets worldwide and of the Euro's value, and furthering a European sovereign debt crisis.
2010 flash crash6 May 2010The Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst intra-day point loss, dropping nearly 1,000 points before partially recovering.
August 2011 stock markets fall1 Aug 2011S&P 500 entered a short-lived bear market between 2 May 2011 and 04 October 2011, a decline of 21.58%. The stock market rebounded thereafter and ended the year flat.
2015–16 Chinese stock market crash12 Jun 2015China stock market crash started in June and continues into July and August. In January 2016, Chinese stock market experienced a steep sell-off which set off a global rout.
2015–16 stock market selloff18 Aug 2015The Dow Jones fell 588 points during a two-day period, 1,300 points from August 18–21. On Monday, August 24, world stock markets were down substantially, wiping out all gains made in 2015, with interlinked drops in commodities such as oil, which hit a six-year price low, copper, and most of Asian currencies, but the Japanese yen, losing value against the United States dollar. With this plunge, an estimated ten trillion dollars had been wiped off the books on global markets since June 3.
2018 cryptocurrency crash20 Sep 2018The S&P 500 index peaked at 2930 on its September 20 close and dropped 19.73% to 2351 by Christmas Eve. Bitcoin price peaked on 17 Dec '17, then fell 45% on 22nd Dec '17. The DJIA falls 18.78% during roughly the same period. Shanghai Composite dropped to a four-year low, escalating their economic downturn since the 2015 recession.
2020 stock market crash24 Feb 2020The COVID-19 outbreak caused supply disruptions, leading to the fastest U.S. stock market plunge from record highs into a correction. A record drop was seen, and the Dow Jones dropped more than 10% in a single week. Stock markets around the world fell simultaneously amid the turmoil.
Unemployment also reached highs, bringing comparisons to 1929.