With the fundamental change in trade policy that President Trump is pursuing, it feels like this time is comparable to Global Financial Crisis where the S&P 500 Index lost 56.8% of its value from 1,565.

A stock market rout, historic in scale, has swept across the globe wiping more than $10 trillion off major markets, as concerns about the economic damage unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs spiral.

The last time the Treasury market seized up was during market convulsions that accompanied the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. Back then, heavy trading led to liquidity drying up, meaning that the difference between “buy” and “sell” offers widened sharply.

Brave investors can start to tiptoe back into the market—so long as they realize that stocks could easily fall much further.

The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) rocketed higher after Donald Trump won the presidential election in November. Many analysts issued optimistic forecasts for the U.S. stock market based on expectations that tax cuts and deregulation should boost economic growth.

With the S&P 500 falling at this rate, the stock market could be at risk of triggering a circuit breaker.

The current sell-off in the US stock market is now the 15 th steepest decline from the previous peak, based on the S&P 500 Index’s drawdown history since 1950. No one knows how deep the correction will go, or how long it will last, but reviewing the historical record for drawdowns provides some context for managing expectations.