The 1929 stock market crash: what happened, day by day

How high did prices climb before the 1929 stock market crash?

The Dow rose sixfold, from 63 in August 1921 to 381 in September 1929, and it closed at 381.17 on 3 September 1929, its peak. Buyers put down 10% in cash and borrowed the rest, using the purchased stocks as collateral. By August 1929 brokers had more than $8.5 billion out on loan.

Then confidence cracked. A sharp decline known as the Babson break followed Roger Babson’s warning of 5 September 1929 that a crash was possible. The index did not collapse yet, but the first doubts had reached prices, and that set the stage for the weeks of October.

What happened on Black Thursday at the start of the crash?

Thursday, 24 October 1929 opened with panic. A record 12.9 million shares changed hands, and the market lost 11% of its value at the opening bell. Black Thursday 1929 is the first of the black days, and its own page follows the trading floor in detail.

Bankers stepped in at midday. Thomas Lamont of Morgan, Albert Wiggin of Chase, and Charles Mitchell of National City met, and Richard Whitney placed a bid for 25,000 U.S. Steel shares at $205, above the market price. The Dow closed down only 6.38 points, or 2.09%.

Why did Black Monday and Black Tuesday deepen the 1929 crash?

The calm lasted 1 weekend. On Monday, 28 October the Dow fell 38.33 points, or 12.82%, to close at 260.64. The bankers’ show of strength had failed, and sellers outnumbered buyers at every price.

On Tuesday, 29 October some 16.4 million shares traded, and the Dow lost 30.57 points, or 11.73%, closing at 230.07. The 2 days together removed 68.90 points. Black Tuesday 1929 is the name most people use for the crash, and its page covers the volume and the aftermath.

Which forces set up the fall of October 1929?

Credit explains the speed. Buyers who put down 10% could lose their whole stake on a fall of 10%, so lenders demanded cash or sold the shares. The Federal Reserve had tightened too: the Board agreed in August 1929 to a New York discount rate of 6%. The page on what caused the 1929 stock market crash weighs these forces.

Several explanations compete, and none stands alone. Speculation on borrowed money, high prices, and tight monetary policy all appear in the Fed’s own account. Tight money also pushed foreign economies toward recession through the gold standard, so the fall had an international side from the start.

Did anything stop the fall in the weeks after the crash?

The fall did not stop on 29 October. By mid-November 1929 the Dow had lost almost half its value. The New York Fed bought government securities on the open market, expedited discount window lending, lowered its discount rate, and assured banks it would supply needed reserves. The Board and several Reserve Banks complained that New York had exceeded its authority.

That split shows how hard it is to respond in real time. The effects of the crash itself faded within a few months, and by fall 1930 recovery seemed imminent. A reader who looks only at the first weeks would miss what came next, which is why the final sections follow the aftermath through 1932.

How did the 1929 stock market crash lead into the Great Depression?

Problems in another part of the financial system turned a stock crash into the Great Depression. From fall 1930 through winter 1933 the money supply fell by nearly 30 percent, and average prices fell by a similar amount. The Dow reached 41.22 on 8 July 1932, 89% below its peak and its lowest close of the twentieth century.

The Great Depression after the 1929 crash gets its own page, with detail pages on causes, years, unemployment, bank failures, and the New Deal. Those pages show that the stock market was the first signal, and the banking system carried the next stage.

How does the 1929 stock market crash compare with later falls?

Set the 1929 numbers beside Black Monday 1987. Two sessions took 23.05% off the Dow in 1929, while a single session took 22.6% in October 1987. The speed looks similar for those days, yet the paths differ: the 1929 slide ran for almost 3 years, and the Dow needed 25 years to return to its peak.

The covid fall of 2020 shows the other extreme. The S&P 500 lost 34% in 33 days, a quicker path to a fall of a third than the Dow took in 1929. Reading the 3 cases together shows that the size of the first drop says little about the length of the aftermath.

What can a reader take from the 1929 stock market crash today?

The recovery took 25 years. The Dow regained its 3 September 1929 closing high on 23 November 1954. A reader who studies this record learns to ask how a position is financed and how long it could be held through a long fall. This page is general information, not investment advice.

As of October 2026 the useful habit is to measure fragility before the headlines arrive. The EQOS Asia method scores a system on its structure, and a 30-minute pre-diagnostic applies it to your own exposure in Singapore, ASEAN, or Hong Kong.

Frequently asked questions

About the author

Stéphane Jambu

President, EQOS Forecast Asia

Stéphane Jambu leads EQOS Forecast Asia and works as a consultant in e-commerce, search visibility, and AI. LinkedIn profile