Dow Jones Record Days
The most extreme sessions in the modern history of the Dow — largest gains, deepest losses, longest streaks — ranked from 8,727 days of closing data and re-checked against every new session.
Record lists you find around the web are usually copied from one another and quietly go stale. The tables below are different: they are recomputed from the underlying daily closing data every time this site rebuilds, so if yesterday's session cracked a top-ten list, it will already be here today. Data covers 1992 to present; famous earlier extremes are noted in the text where they belong.
Largest single-day point gains
Point records cluster in recent years for a structural reason: the higher the index level, the more points an ordinary percentage move produces. Most of the entries below were far from the most dramatic days in market terms — compare their percentage column with the percentage table further down. The standouts are the violent rebounds of March 2020 and the tariff-pause rally of April 9, 2025, which tops the list in both points and percent.
| # | Date | Close | Points | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | April 9, 2025 | 40,608.45 | +2,962.86 | +7.87% |
| 2 | March 24, 2020 | 20,704.91 | +2,112.98 | +11.37% |
| 3 | March 13, 2020 | 23,185.62 | +1,985.00 | +9.36% |
| 4 | April 6, 2020 | 22,679.99 | +1,627.46 | +7.73% |
| 5 | November 6, 2024 | 43,729.93 | +1,508.05 | +3.57% |
| 6 | March 26, 2020 | 22,552.17 | +1,351.62 | +6.38% |
| 7 | April 8, 2026 | 47,909.92 | +1,325.46 | +2.85% |
| 8 | March 2, 2020 | 26,703.32 | +1,293.96 | +5.09% |
| 9 | February 6, 2026 | 50,115.67 | +1,206.95 | +2.47% |
| 10 | November 10, 2022 | 33,715.37 | +1,201.43 | +3.70% |
Ranked by point change. Dataset coverage: January 2, 1992 – August 31, 2026.
Largest single-day point losses
The same caveat applies in reverse. The COVID crash of March 2020 dominates this table, but note how days from 2018, 2024 and 2025 sneak in with percentage losses that would have been unremarkable in earlier decades — points inflate as the index climbs.
| # | Date | Close | Points | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 16, 2020 | 20,188.52 | −2,997.10 | −12.93% |
| 2 | March 12, 2020 | 21,200.62 | −2,352.60 | −9.99% |
| 3 | April 4, 2025 | 38,314.86 | −2,231.07 | −5.50% |
| 4 | March 9, 2020 | 23,851.02 | −2,013.76 | −7.79% |
| 5 | June 11, 2020 | 25,128.17 | −1,861.82 | −6.90% |
| 6 | April 3, 2025 | 40,545.93 | −1,679.39 | −3.98% |
| 7 | March 11, 2020 | 23,553.22 | −1,464.94 | −5.86% |
| 8 | March 18, 2020 | 19,898.92 | −1,338.46 | −6.30% |
| 9 | September 13, 2022 | 31,104.97 | −1,276.37 | −3.94% |
| 10 | February 27, 2020 | 25,766.64 | −1,190.95 | −4.42% |
Ranked by point change. Dataset coverage: January 2, 1992 – August 31, 2026.
Largest single-day percentage gains
Percentage is the honest yardstick, and by that yardstick the biggest up-days in modern history are crisis rebounds — October 2008, March 2020, April 2025. Enormous rallies almost never happen in calm markets; they happen inside panics, which is one of the strongest arguments against trying to time your way around volatile stretches.
| # | Date | Close | Points | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 24, 2020 | 20,704.91 | +2,112.98 | +11.37% |
| 2 | October 13, 2008 | 9,387.61 | +936.42 | +11.08% |
| 3 | October 28, 2008 | 9,065.12 | +889.35 | +10.88% |
| 4 | March 13, 2020 | 23,185.62 | +1,985.00 | +9.36% |
| 5 | April 9, 2025 | 40,608.45 | +2,962.86 | +7.87% |
| 6 | April 6, 2020 | 22,679.99 | +1,627.46 | +7.73% |
| 7 | March 23, 2009 | 7,775.86 | +497.48 | +6.84% |
| 8 | November 13, 2008 | 8,835.25 | +552.59 | +6.67% |
| 9 | November 21, 2008 | 8,046.42 | +494.13 | +6.54% |
| 10 | March 26, 2020 | 22,552.17 | +1,351.62 | +6.38% |
Ranked by percentage change. Dataset coverage: January 2, 1992 – August 31, 2026.
Largest single-day percentage losses
Our dataset begins in 1992, so the table below is led by March 16, 2020 (−12.93%), the second-worst day in the index's entire 130-year history. The worst ever remains outside our data window: Black Monday, October 19, 1987, when the Dow fell 22.6% in a single session — a collapse so severe it led directly to the creation of the market-wide circuit breakers that halted trading twice during the March 2020 entries you see here.
| # | Date | Close | Points | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 16, 2020 | 20,188.52 | −2,997.10 | −12.93% |
| 2 | March 12, 2020 | 21,200.62 | −2,352.60 | −9.99% |
| 3 | October 15, 2008 | 8,577.91 | −733.08 | −7.87% |
| 4 | March 9, 2020 | 23,851.02 | −2,013.76 | −7.79% |
| 5 | December 1, 2008 | 8,149.09 | −679.95 | −7.70% |
| 6 | October 9, 2008 | 8,579.19 | −678.91 | −7.33% |
| 7 | October 27, 1997 | 7,161.20 | −554.20 | −7.18% |
| 8 | September 17, 2001 | 8,920.70 | −684.81 | −7.13% |
| 9 | September 29, 2008 | 10,365.45 | −777.68 | −6.98% |
| 10 | June 11, 2020 | 25,128.17 | −1,861.82 | −6.90% |
Ranked by percentage change. Dataset coverage: January 2, 1992 – August 31, 2026.
Longest winning and losing streaks
Streaks measure persistence rather than magnitude — and the two are surprisingly unrelated. Note how modest the total percentage change of some long streaks is: a market can grind higher for two weeks straight while barely moving 3%, and a brutal losing streak can do less damage than a single bad Friday.
Winning streaks
| Length | Dates | Total change |
|---|---|---|
| 13 sessions | Jul 10, 2023 – Jul 26, 2023 | +5.29% |
| 12 sessions | Feb 9, 2017 – Feb 27, 2017 | +3.90% |
| 10 sessions | Nov 4, 1996 – Nov 15, 1996 | +5.42% |
| 10 sessions | Mar 1, 2013 – Mar 14, 2013 | +3.45% |
| 10 sessions | Jul 25, 2017 – Aug 7, 2017 | +2.81% |
Losing streaks
| Length | Dates | Total change |
|---|---|---|
| 10 sessions | Dec 5, 2024 – Dec 18, 2024 | −5.97% |
| 8 sessions | Oct 1, 2008 – Oct 10, 2008 | −22.11% |
| 8 sessions | Sep 6, 2001 – Sep 21, 2001 | −17.91% |
| 8 sessions | Jul 22, 2011 – Aug 2, 2011 | −6.74% |
| 8 sessions | Jun 12, 2018 – Jun 21, 2018 | −3.40% |
Best and worst calendar years
Best years
| Year | Return | Started | Ended |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | +33.45% | 3,834.44 | 5,117.12 |
| 2013 | +26.50% | 13,104.14 | 16,576.66 |
| 1996 | +26.01% | 5,117.12 | 6,448.27 |
| 2003 | +25.32% | 8,341.63 | 10,453.92 |
| 1999 | +25.22% | 9,181.43 | 11,497.12 |
Worst years
| Year | Return | Started | Ended |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | −33.84% | 13,264.82 | 8,776.39 |
| 2002 | −16.76% | 10,021.57 | 8,341.63 |
| 2022 | −8.78% | 36,338.30 | 33,147.25 |
| 2001 | −7.10% | 10,787.99 | 10,021.57 |
| 2000 | −6.17% | 11,497.12 | 10,787.99 |
The full year-by-year table, including each year's high, low and worst intra-year drawdown, lives on the annual returns page.