Every Major Russell 2000 Drawdown Since 1987
| Event | Start | End | Depth | Duration | Recovery | Severity Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Monday | Aug 1987 | Dec 1987 | ~-33.5% | ~101 days | ~18 months | ~9.3 |
| Early 1990s Recession | Jul 1990 | Oct 1990 | ~-21.5% | ~90 days | ~5 months | ~5.6 |
| Dot-Com Crash | Mar 2000 | Oct 2002 | -49.1% | ~929 days | ~4 years | 10.5 |
| Great Financial Crisis | Oct 2007 | Mar 2009 | -59.9% | ~518 days | ~4 years | 12.0+ |
| 2011 EU Debt Crisis | Apr 2011 | Oct 2011 | ~-29.0% | ~157 days | ~11 months | 6.2 |
| 2015-2016 Selloff | Jun 2015 | Feb 2016 | -25.7% | ~233 days | ~9 months | 6.0 |
| Q4 2018 Selloff* | Aug 2018 | Dec 2018 | -26.8% | ~115 days | Never fully recovered before COVID (see note) | 6.4 |
| COVID Crash | Jan 2020 | Mar 2020 | -41.1% | ~67 days | ~8 months | 9.9 |
| 2022 Bear Market | Nov 2021 | Jun 2022 | -31.9% | ~220 days | ~29 months | 7.5 |
| 2025 Tariff Selloff | Nov 2024 | Apr 2025 | -27.5% | ~134 days | ~5 months | 6.4 |
Conventions: Depth is the peak-to-trough decline on closing prices of the Russell 2000 index (proxied by the iShares Russell 2000 ETF, IWM, for the live-data-derived rows). Duration is the approximate number of calendar days from the peak to the trough. Recovery is measured from the trough until the index closed above the prior peak again (not from the peak). Values marked "~" are approximations compiled from public Russell 2000 index records or reflect a starting peak outside the range of our own committed price history; every row from the 2011 EU Debt Crisis onward is cross-checked or directly computed against IWM's own daily closing prices back to May 2011. Severity scores are retroactive estimates using DrawdownAlerts' methodology and are not directly comparable across eras or assets, because each asset's historical baseline evolves over time.
* The Q4 2018 Selloff never fully recovered before the COVID crash began: the Russell 2000 (IWM) closed at an all-time high of $157.87 on August 31, 2018, fell 26.8% into a December 24, 2018 trough, climbed back to within a fraction of a percent of that high by mid-January 2020 — but never closed above it before the COVID selloff began about a week later. Measured continuously, the index spent roughly 26 months (August 2018 to November 2020) without a new closing high, the longest such stretch in this dataset outside the dot-com crash and Great Financial Crisis.
Key Observations
- -Small caps fall harder than large caps in systemic crises, not just in headlines. The Russell 2000's estimated -59.9% Great Financial Crisis drawdown was materially deeper than the S&P 500's -56.8% or the Dow's -53.8% over the same window, and its real, computed -41.1% 2018-2020 decline was also the deepest of the four major U.S. indices tracked on this site for that stretch.
- -The Q4 2018 selloff and COVID crash were really one continuous 26-month drawdown for small caps. The Russell 2000 never closed above its August 2018 all-time high before the COVID selloff began in February 2020 — a distinction the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, which both set fresh highs in 2019, did not share.
- -The 2022 bear market recovery lagged the broader market by roughly two years. The Russell 2000 peaked November 8, 2021, but did not close back above that high until November 6, 2024 — well after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had already set new records.
- -Not every Russell 2000 drawdown is slow to heal. The 2025 tariff selloff, a real, computed -27.5% decline, recovered in about 5 months — one of the fastest turnarounds in this dataset, alongside the 2011 EU Debt Crisis.
How to Read This Table
Event: The commonly used name for the drawdown or the economic/market event that triggered it.
Start: The approximate month the Russell 2000 began declining from its prior peak.
End: The approximate month the Russell 2000 reached the trough (lowest point) of the drawdown.
Depth: The maximum percentage decline from the peak to the trough. A depth of -59.9% means the index lost roughly three-fifths of its value.
Duration: The approximate number of calendar days from the start of the decline to the trough.
Recovery: The time from the trough until the Russell 2000 closed above the prior peak again. Note this is measured from the trough, not from the peak; measured from the peak, recoveries take the duration plus this figure.
Severity Score: An estimated Drawdown Severity Score based on DrawdownAlerts' methodology, which considers both depth and duration relative to historical norms. Higher scores indicate more extreme, statistically rare drawdowns.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the worst Russell 2000 drawdown in history?
The worst Russell 2000 drawdown was the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2009, when the small-cap index fell an estimated 59.9% from its October 2007 peak to its March 2009 trough — deeper than the comparable declines in the Dow (-53.8%) or S&P 500 (-56.8%), reflecting how small-cap stocks tend to fall harder than large-caps in a systemic credit crisis. The dot-com crash of 2000-2002 was the second-worst, an estimated 49.1% decline over roughly two and a half years.
Does the Russell 2000 fall more than the S&P 500 in a bear market?
Historically, yes. Small-cap stocks carry more business risk, less liquidity, and less access to capital than large caps, so the Russell 2000 has fallen harder than the S&P 500 or Dow in nearly every major bear market in this dataset — an estimated -59.9% versus the S&P 500's -56.8% in the 2007-2009 financial crisis, and a real -41.1% versus the S&P 500's smaller decline during the 2018-2020 extended drawdown. The main exception was the COVID crash itself (Feb-Mar 2020), where the timing and depth were broadly similar across large and small caps.
How long did it take the Russell 2000 to recover after the 2022 bear market?
Unusually long. The Russell 2000 peaked on November 8, 2021, fell 31.9% to a June 2022 trough, and then did not close back above its 2021 high until November 6, 2024 — about two and a half years later. That lagged the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, both of which reached new all-time highs in 2024 well before the Russell 2000 did. View the current Russell 2000 (IWM) drawdown status.
Data based on Russell 2000 index and iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) daily closing prices. Drawdown Severity Scores are estimated using DrawdownAlerts' methodology. Dates are approximate.
Last updated:
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