8 of the biggest stock market crashes in history – and how they changed our financial lives

8 of the biggest stock market crashes in history – and how they changed our financial lives

Stock market crashes can leave positive legacies in their wake “” even though they cause plenty of immediate pain.

In the US, stock market crashes led to the creation of the Federal Reserve System, the SEC, and the FDIC.

While the triggers for stock market crashes vary, the ultimate outcome is always the same: the market recovers.

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Three little words strike more fear into investors' hearts than anything else: stock market crash.

It's not just that they mean losses (another word that scares investors). It's also that no one knows for sure when a stock market crash is going to happen “” though the signs were often there in retrospect “” or even exactly what it is. There's no one official definition.

Generally, though a stock market crash is seen as a single trading day in which a stock exchange/market drops by at least 10%. But it can also be "anytime there's suddenly