Russell 2000 Downtrend Replay (1987-09-10 to 1987-10-20)
Replay the 1987 Russell 2000 crash as small-caps plunged 34.1% across 58 trading days. Step through each session, tackle 4 critical decision points, and receive an AI coach review of your simulated choices.
58 daily bars · 11 decision points · 1987-09 to 1987-12 · Stocks
Key facts
This window spans 82 days with a peak-to-trough drawdown of 38.5% and a 13.3% run-up.
- Max drawdown
- −38.5%
- Max run-up
- +13.3%
- Duration
- 82 days
- Largest single-day move
- −12.5%
- Bars
- 58 Daily bars
- Decision points
- 11
Every figure above is computed programmatically from this replay’s own candle series — no editorial input, no LLM. Methodology: Methodology
The market advances day by day. You only see candles up to the current day — as if you were really there.
At key decision points choose Buy / Trim / Exit / Hold. Each decision advances the timeline by one day.
After settlement you get a six-dimension score and an AI coach review. Your result enters the scenario leaderboard.
Event Replay
What happened — and what it teaches
The late-summer of 1987 placed the Russell 2000 at a fragile crossroads. Small-cap U.S. equities, long favoured by investors hunting for growth beyond the mega-cap names, entered September near 168.97, and the 11 decision points scattered across the coming weeks — four of them flagged as critical — would force every participant to confront the same question: when does a wobble become a regime change? The replay window runs from 1987-09-10 through 1987-12-01, a stretch that begins in optimism and ends in sobering reflection. Nothing on the tape at the open suggested the magnitude of what was about to unfold, which is precisely the educational value of stepping into the scenario cold.
What followed was one of the most punishing small-cap downtrends of the era. Over 58 daily bars, the index slid from 168.97 to 111.27, a cumulative decline of 34.1%. The maximum drawdown reached 38.5% from peak to trough, and on one session the index lurched 12.5% in a single bar — a magnitude that compresses weeks of normal volatility into a single print. Because the data is replayed bar-by-bar, each participant sees the same sequence of closes and gaps, the same slow bleed punctuated by violent jumps, and must commit to actions before the next session reveals its answer. The four critical decision points are positioned exactly where conviction would be hardest to maintain.
The training value lies less in the headline -34.1% and more in the texture of the path. A 12.5% single-bar move tempts reflexive reactions on both sides — adding to losers on the way down, or chasing a sharp rebound that may not hold. A 38.5% drawdown rewards those who pre-defined risk limits and punishes those who anchored to pre-crash highs. Practising inside the replay lets a learner feel how drawdown, volatility clustering and decision fatigue interact, without real capital at risk. The lesson is process over prediction: size to survive a bad day, write the plan before the open, and treat the four critical checkpoints as opportunities to test discipline rather than to prove a thesis.
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