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Throughout recent history, stock market crashes have sent shockwaves through global economies, wiping out vast amounts of wealth and often triggering widespread financial turmoil.
The 1998 Russian financial crisis, triggered by a combination of declining productivity, high fixed exchange rates, and fiscal deficits, led to the Russian government devaluing the ruble and defaulting on its debt, causing severe economic impacts across neighboring countries.
About $5 billion of international loans provided by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund were allegedly stolen upon arrival in Russia just before the economic meltdown.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, began in September and ended in mid-November 1929, marking the start of the Great Depression and wiping out billions of dollars of wealth in a single day.
In the lead-up to the crash, brokers had lent small investors more than two-thirds of the face value of stocks they were buying on margin—over $8.5 billion, which was more than the entire amount of currency circulating in the United States at the time.
The Japanese asset price bubble of 1986-1991 saw real estate and stock market prices in Japan become greatly inflated, with the Nikkei 225 stock index reaching a peak of nearly 39,000 in December 1989.
At the bubble's height, the 1.15 square kilometer Tokyo Imperial Palace grounds were estimated to be worth more than the entire real estate value of California.
The 2020 stock market crash was a sudden and severe global stock market crash that began on February 20, 2020 and ended on April 7, 2020, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and an oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
On March 16, 2020 (dubbed "Black Monday II"), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2,997.10 points (12.93%), its largest single-day point drop in history, and on March 12, 2020 ("Black Thursday"), global stock markets suffered from the greatest single-day percentage fall since the 1987 stock market crash.
The Panic of 1873 was a severe economic depression triggered by bank failures and a stock market crash, leading to widespread unemployment and social unrest across the United States and Europe.
The crisis was partly sparked by the demonetization of silver in Germany and the U.S., which caused a contraction in the money supply.
The New York Stock Exchange closed for an unprecedented 10 days during the height of the panic.
The 1997 Asian financial crisis began in Thailand and quickly spread to other Southeast Asian countries, causing massive currency devaluations, stock market crashes, and economic turmoil across the region.
At the height of the crisis in Hong Kong, overnight interest rates briefly spiked to an astronomical 280% as the monetary authority desperately tried to defend its currency peg against speculative attacks.
The dot-com bubble was a period of extreme speculation and investment in Internet-based companies from 1995 to 2000, culminating in a spectacular market crash that wiped out $5 trillion in market value.
At the height of the mania, companies with no profits were valued in the billions. 17 dot-com companies bought Super Bowl ads in a single year, and a single day's 15% drop in Microsoft's stock triggered a 350-point fall in the Nasdaq.
The European banking crisis of 1931 was a major financial meltdown that peaked with the collapse of several large banks in Austria and Germany, triggering Germany's exit from the gold standard and contributing to the Great Depression.
The crisis was exacerbated when Creditanstalt, widely viewed as a pillar of financial stability, absorbed struggling banks at the government's request, ironically turning its traditional strength into a vulnerability that ultimately led to its own downfall.
Black Wednesday, occurring on September 16, 1992, was a financial crisis that forced the UK to withdraw from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism after failing to keep the pound's value above the required lower limit.
In a desperate attempt to save the pound, the UK government raised interest rates to 15% in a single day and spent billions in foreign currency reserves, while currency trader George Soros made over £1 billion in profit by short selling sterling.
The 2015-2016 Chinese stock market turbulence saw the Shanghai Stock Exchange lose 30% of its value in just one month, triggering global market shocks and earning the moniker "Black Monday" on August 24, 2015.
The Chinese government arrested 197 people, including a journalist, for "spreading rumors" about the market crash.
The Panic of 1907 was a severe financial crisis that shook the United States, triggering numerous bank runs and a stock market crash, which was ultimately resolved through the intervention of financier J.P. Morgan.
In one of the most dramatic moments of the crisis, Morgan locked 120 bank and trust company officials in his library overnight, forcing them to come up with a $25 million loan to save failing institutions.
On October 19, 1987, global stock markets crashed in a single day, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting 22.6%—the largest one-day percentage drop in its history.
The crash was so severe that the Hong Kong stock exchange had to close for four days to prevent total collapse. In New Zealand the effects spilled over into the real economy, contributing to a recession that lasted until 1993.
The 2007-2008 financial crisis, triggered by the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble and subprime mortgage crisis, led to the largest bank failure in U.S. history with the collapse of Washington Mutual, and saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average drop a staggering 777.68 points in a single day.
In the aftermath, only one banker in the United States served jail time for fraud related to the crisis. Iceland's response was comparatively severe, with 25 bankers jailed and the Prime Minister put on trial.
The 1973-1974 stock market crash was one of the worst downturns since the Great Depression, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing over 45% of its value in just 694 days.
In the United Kingdom, the impact was even more severe, with the FT 30 index plummeting a staggering 73%, leading to a secondary banking crisis that forced the Bank of England to bail out several lenders.
Inflation skyrocketed to 25% by 1975.
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