Black Tuesday is commonly described as having wiped out about $25 billion in 1929 dollars , which is roughly $319 billion in today’s dollars. That figure is widely cited for the 1929 market crash overall, and Black Tuesday was the worst day of it.

Quick context

On Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, more than 16 million shares changed hands, and the Dow fell another 12 percent that day. The selling pressure was so intense that it became the symbol of the Great Crash.

What the number means

The “money lost” figure is not cash physically disappearing; it refers to the drop in the value of stocks. Because stock prices collapsed, investors’ paper wealth shrank dramatically, especially for people who had bought on margin and still owed money on their loans.

Bottom line

A concise answer is: about $25 billion at the time, or around $319 billion adjusted for inflation.