Bitcoin dives below $10,000, giving up some of this year’s epic rally

Bitcoin plunged Tuesday below $10,000, cratering from a 17-month high hit just four sessions ago.

The world’s most widely traded cryptocurrency dropped to a low of about $9,676 on Tuesday, a roughly $3,800 drop from its highs on Wednesday, according to Coindesk. Bitcoin started its free fall on Thursday, plunging nearly $3,000 as an outage occurred on popular cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase.

Other large coins also fell on Tuesday, with Monero and Decred tumbling at least 6.5%, according to Coindesk.

Still, Bitcoin has had a stellar turnaround this year, soaring about 200% in 2019.

The volatile cryptocurrency rebounded early this year after tumbling more than 70% in 2018 as high-profile hacks, crack-downs on initial coin offerings dampened investor enthusiasm. The comeback this year was largely attributed to more interest in the space following Facebook’s announcement of a cryptocurrency project, a breakout from key technical levels and some hedging amid trade wars.

Facebook is expected to launch its cryptocurrency called “Libra” in 2020. It will be run by Stripe, Uber, Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Spotify and others.

—CNBC’s Kate Rooney contributed reporting.