Black Monday at 39: What holding through the crash was actually worth
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 19, 2026.
Buying into the worst crash day in market history was worth 698 percentage points of extra return versus buying three days earlier, a reminder of what panic selling costs on the 39th anniversary.
S&P 500 from the close on 10/16/1987 (pre-crash) through Friday: +2,609% (8.82% annualized). From the Black Monday close on 10/19/87: +3,307% (9.46% annualized). Three days, 698%.
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Selling into the 1987 panic cost investors dearly: Bespoke Investment Group's numbers show holding from the pre-crash close through last Friday returned +2,609%.
Buying at the Black Monday close instead returned +3,307%, a gap of 698 percentage points for three trading days of nerve.
Exiting during a crash locks in a loss later compounding struggles to repair.
The annualized returns differ by less than a percentage point a year, and nearly four decades of compounding turns that into a far different ending balance.
Holding, let alone buying, was psychologically brutal in real time, which is exactly why the gap is so wide.