English: People gather on the sub-treasury building steps across from the New York Stock Exchange in New York on "Black Thursday," Oct. 24, 1929. Thousands of investors lost their savings in the worst stock market crash in Wall Street history on Oct. 29, 1929, after a five-day frenzy of heavy trading. Too much speculation with borrowed money had inflated market values unrealistically. Huge buying orders, hastily erected by powerful financial interest, finally checked the most frantic sell-off experienced by the securities markets. The Great Depression followed thereafter.