While there isn’t an official definition for what makes a stock market waterfall. It is typically defined as a very sharp decline (e.g. >10%) in stock prices lasting from somewhere between a few weeks to a few months.

As is the case with stock market waterfalls, there is no official definition / threshold for what constitutes a stock market crash. However, stock market crashes tend to be dramatic stock market declines (e.g. <8%) over the course of one to a few days.

The number of stock market waterfalls depends on how a waterfall event is defined. Generally, however, there have been approximately 20 waterfall declines since 1960 or one every three years. Though if a more extreme threshold were used, the case could be made that only 10 waterfall events occurred since 1960 or one every six years.

2020, 2018, 2008, 2002, 1987, and 1974