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What Is a Stock Market Crash?

Defined: A stock market crash / share market crash is a rapid sell-off or falls in asset prices, like shares / stocks, bonds or property.

In this financial guide:

Defined: A stock market crash / share market crash is a rapid sell-off or falls in asset prices, like shares/stocks, bonds or property.

Here are some of the most prominent share market crashes:

  • Global Financial Crisis (GFC), 2007/2008
  • Dot-com boom and bust, 2000
  • 97 Asian financial crisis
  • Black Monday, 1987
  • 1973-74 stock market crash
  • 1929 crash
  • Tulip mania crash, 1637

What causes share market crashes?

Some investors believe share markets move in cycles depending on Fibonacci sequences, the US presidential cycle, wave theory and other mathematical and technical formula. However, some investors argue that market crashes cannot be predicted but can be expected to occur every 7 to 10 years.

Market Crash vs. Market Correction

It is generally accepted that a market correction is a drop of less than 20%, while a crash is something more than 20%.

Volatility

Volatility is often associated with the random day-to-day ups and downs in share prices. It is the risk that cannot be reduced by diversification. You can watch our video explaining diversification here.

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Picture of Owen Raszkiewicz

Owen Raszkiewicz

Owen is the Chief Investment Officer of Rask Invest and Founder of Rask. Since founding The Rask Group in 2017 in the hillside suburb of Upwey, Victoria, Owen has overseen the growth of the Rask platform to over 200,000 investor followers. Today, Owen oversees the Rask Analyst team, which helps more than 4,000 Aussies build core portfolios from ETFs and shares, he hosts Australia's biggest investing podcast, The Australian Investors Podcast, appears on Rask's other channels, covering Property, Business and Finance; and leads Rask Education - our education platform which has enrolled over 25,000 Australians into free finance courses. Prior to founding Rask, Owen was an investment analyst at the highly regarded managed funds research business and a writer/analyst for one of the most well-known share market publications. Owen’s formal qualifications include a Master of Applied Finance and Master of Financial Planning from Kaplan Professional, Bachelor of Technology (Information Systems) from Swinburne University of Technology, Advanced Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning) and Diploma of Mortgage Broking Management. He's also completed level 1 of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program.

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