Tulip mania collapse
- When
- 1637
- Where
- Dutch Republic
- Episodes
- 2
Tulip mania in the Dutch Republic peaked in early 1637 before collapsing abruptly in February. The crash halted trade and triggered legal disputes over existing contracts, which were later resolved by reclassifying certain futures as options.
Episodes
- Peak Speculation
Tulip contract prices reached extraordinary levels in early 1637, with bulbs selling for over 10 times an artisan's annual income.
- Market Collapse
In February 1637, demand for tulips collapsed as traders failed to find new buyers, causing prices to plummet and trade to halt.
Background and detail
The Collapse. In February 1637, traders could no longer find buyers for inflated prices. Demand collapsed, causing prices to plummet and trade to halt. The crash occurred by the end of the first week of February, with 98 sales recorded on February 5 at wildly varying prices before the market ground to a stop.
People involved
- Dutch Florists Guild · Regulatory body
- Dutch Parliament · Legislative authority
- Tulip Traders · Market participants
Sources
- Tulip mania Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-22
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.