Following the initial panic of Black Thursday, investors tried to recover their losses, but the market remained volatile and continued to decline. On Tuesday, October 29, the crash reached its peak, with over 16 million shares sold in a single afternoon, causing widespread financial destruction.
"More than 16 million shares were dumped in an afternoon of trading," illustrating the severity of the crash. The losses on that day equaled the total amount the US government had spent fighting World War I, highlighting the catastrophic impact on the economy.