--- title: 3 Charts That Explain the Stock Market's Huge Drop description: Monday's stock market close represents the first correction since 2011. Here is what you need to know in three charts. authors: - name: Ian Salisbury role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/ian-salisbury-2/ bio: Ian Salisbury was a senior editor at Money, focusing on investing, banks and mortgage. at_money_since: 2013 articles: 91 covers: - Investing - Economy and Politics - Housing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes former_staff: true published: '2015-08-24T23:03:27.000Z' modified: '2024-04-02T05:31:43.000Z' section: Investing tags: - bear market - bull market - correction - stock market word_count: 188 canonical: https://money.com/stock-market-correction-explained/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![3 Charts That Explain the Stock Market's Huge Drop](https://img.money.com/2015/08/0825_correction_not_unusual.png?w=895&h=569&crop=1) On Monday, the stock market entered what Wall Street pros term a “correction,” a decline of 10% or more from the market’s previous peak, which occurred in May. No one likes to see their portfolio knocked down a peg, but it’s not the end of the world. Here are some stats to put recent event into context, and perhaps help you [relax a little](https://money.com/collection-post/market-meltdown-how-to-survive/). ### **It's been a surprisingly long time since stocks fell by this much.** The last time the market dropped at least 10% was in October 2011. That's one of the longest stretches of uninterrupted growth since World War II. So you might say we were due; typically, there's a market correction every 18 months. ![](https://img.money.com/2015/08/0825_correction_not_unusual.png) * * * ### **Most 10% drops don't lead to bear markets.** Most of the 30-odd corrections the market has endured since 1946 didn't deteriorate into a bear market, defined as a decline of 20% or more from the previous peak. ![](https://img.money.com/2015/08/0825_correction_bear_market.png) * * * ### **Just holding on usually solves the problem.** Usually, but not always, investors who [waited out a correction](https://money.com/investing-stock-market-gambling/) found themselves quickly back in the black. ![](https://img.money.com/2015/08/0825_correction_holding_on.png) ***Read next: [Why Bonds Soared After Monday's Stock Market Crash](https://money.com/stocks-bonds-drop-prices-yield/)*** ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-correction-explained/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Investing", "item": "https://money.com/investing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Stocks", "item": "https://money.com/stocks/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "3 Charts That Explain the Stock Market's Huge Drop" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-correction-explained/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/stock-market-correction-explained/", "name": "3 Charts That Explain the Stock Market's Huge Drop", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-08-24T23:03:27.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-correction-explained/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-correction-explained/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-02T05:31:43.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "3 Charts That Explain the Stock Market's Huge Drop", "articleSection": "Investing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/08/0825_correction_not_unusual.png", "width": 895, "height": 746 }, { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/08/0825_correction_bear_market.png", "width": 420, "height": 460 }, { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/08/0825_correction_holding_on.png", "width": 673, "height": 379 } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ian Salisbury", "url": "https://money.com/author/ian-salisbury-2/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/ian-salisbury-2/#author", "description": "Ian Salisbury was a senior editor at Money, focusing on investing, banks and mortgage.", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/06/Ian-Salisbury.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-08-24T23:03:27.000Z", "description": "Monday's stock market close represents the first correction since 2011. 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