Bitcoin slumped back to the US$10 000 level, extending a sell-off that’s erasing most of its monster gain from last week.

The largest digital asset dropped much as 7.8% on Tuesday and was trading at $10 083 as of 10.18am in New York. Other cryptocurrencies also declined, with bitcoin cash and litecoin losing about 3%.

Bitcoin is leading a reversal of cryptocurrencies after a volatile week that saw its price leap 23% after oscillating widely between gains and losses, at one point plunging more than $1 800 in a matter of minutes. It’s still up more than 170% since the start of a year that’s seeing wider acceptance of digital coins from corporate giants, including Facebook, which unveiled plans for its own token.

The drop follows comments from notable crypto sceptic Nouriel Roubini, the head of Roubini Macro Associates, sometimes known as “Dr Doom”, who said at a blockchain summit in Taipei that there is “massive, massive amounts of price manipulation” in the crypto space.

But not all are as gloomy about bitcoin’s outlook. Cedric Jeanson, chief executive and founder of crypto asset management and advisory firm BitSpread, sees the volatility as an opportunity. He anticipates bitcoin will surpass its previous record of more than $19 000 reached in 2017.

“The real trend is buy and hold,” Jeanson said. “As soon as it goes down, people find opportunities to buy it at what they consider to be ‘on the cheap’.” — Reported by Vildana Hajric and Gregor Stuart Hunter, (c) 2019 Bloomberg LP