A maximum drawdown is the largest loss an investor would have experienced by buying at a market peak and holding until the lowest point before the market reached a new high. This visualization shows the six worst U.S. market drawdowns since 1925, each represented as a triangle aligned at its trough. The base of each triangle represents the duration of the drawdown (time under water), while the apex represents the maximum loss. An apex reaching the bottom of the graphic would correspond to a total loss of the invested capital. Red denotes crises within the last 50 years; black denotes older events. The Great Depression stands out: an 85% collapse and over 20 years to recover. Post-war crises show faster rebounds. The 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 financial crisis each cut market value by roughly half, with recoveries in under four years. Black Monday 1987 was the sharpest drop but the quickest recovery.

 Data: Monthly S&P 500 price data from Robert Shiller's long-term US stock market dataset (1925-2025).