10 craziest days on Wall Street in 2008: #1 Market roller coaster takes investors on a thrill ride

Oct. 10: Dow 8,451 (down 128 points); trading range, 1,215 points

By comparison to many of the days we've mentioned here, the closing numbers for the Dow and other major indexes seem pedestrian. But they don't tell the entire story of the trading session on Friday, Oct. 10.

Overnight, the overseas markets saw some of the worst results in decades with Japan's Nikkei falling 9.6%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropping 7.2, London's FTSE losing 8.9%, Germany's DAX off 7% and France's CAC declining 7.7% -- foretelling an ugly day for U.S. traders.

In the most-volatile and most-active session of the year, the major indices plunged sharply at the open, as global economic fears rocked the U.S. markets. The markets rebounded back into positive territory in short order, only to retreat again in afternoon trading. One more rally into positive territory came in the final hour before the markets finally ended the day lower.

Needless to say, volatility set another record, fueled by tightness in the credit markets and continued uncertainty about the economic outlook. The day ended an ugly week where the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 declined 18.2%, 15.3% and 18.2%, respectively.

Greg Tucker is the executive editor of OptionsZone.com.