The thing about 1987 was the stockmarket was superheated when the crash occurred. It fell heavily on one day (22% in the US)and then drifted slowly sideways/down for about 3 months.
The US fell 35% from the peak and the ASX fell about 50% at its worst point in December.
But here's the difference in 1987 the sharemarket had risen so quickly that the 50% falls in the ASX only wiped out the last 12 months of gains so it wasn't too bad. Currently the US has wiped out about 5 years of gains and we have lost 3 years of gains.
