For the first time since January, bitcoin — the world’s most popular digital coin — briefly dropped below $30,000, a key level that technical analysts monitor.
Bitcoin at one point shed more than 10% to trade as low as $29,154.73, losing more than half its value since hitting a record high in April.
The selling also spilled over to smaller coins like Dogecoin, a meme-inspired crypto that at one point tumbled more than 25% to erase all of its gains since April.
After topping $64,000 in April, bitcoin has struggled to reclaim its all-time highs since then following a series of events.
Bitcoin, for instance, briefly touched $40,000 last week and fell again Monday after China’s central bank deepened a crackdown on cryptocurrencies.
With Tuesday’s losses, bitcoin has slid more than 50% from its all-time high above $64,000 in mid-April.
Over the weekend, bitcoin formed a death cross, a chart pattern that signals the potential for a major sell-off.
Still, some are using the recent decline in bitcoin as a buying opportunity.
Piling all of your nest egg into something as volatile as cryptocurrencies poses big risks to your retirement, experts say.
In late 2017, the digital token surged to nearly $20,000, before crashing to almost $3,000 the following year.
Dogecoin has seen similar booms and swoons.