you certainly had a good account by 9/1987. Aside from specific...

you certainly had a good account by 9/1987. Aside from specific stocks, the market wiped off around 25% in one day. This on average wiped off only the last month or three of gains and that point is something often overlooked. The market had run crazy since 2 to 3 years prior. So a lot of investors were not wiped out so badly. Several things happened then to cause harm that has now been corrected and offering greater protection from such a one day fall. I do think the stop losses triggered much of it also.
1/ regulators have taken many steps to lessen this and drops like QBE felt in one day were actually rectified and I understand a lot was reversed.
2/ a large difference is that managed funds were not valued daily but weekly. So many unit holders were able to exit with full value in that week and after the event. So a quick call or fax to redeem your units actually left the remaining holders who were unaware obviously, but had to suffer not just their losses but absorb those who redeemed losses. It’s all valued daily but I doubt all industry ones are. They only have a interim estimation for some. Only a few short years ago they were only properly valued once a year and thus provided inequities for or against depending on the guess work. These details could not be gained from customer service etc, but by research and asking very explicit questions and referring on to the trustee or certainly higher than your team leader.

so maybe we have new issues that exacerbate a large correction but the above examples in 2/ are largely in a better position to accurately reward unit holders.