Bitcoin Is Crashing

It's shaping up to be a pretty ugly day for Bitcoin.

After soaring past $250 earlier, it's tumbled all the way down to current levels around $150.

Bitcoin is now 44 percent off its intraday high of $266.

At its low of the day ($105), it had lost 61 percent of its value from the peak.

The chart below shows Bitcoin prices from April 9 through today.

The virtual currency briefly staged a sizeable comeback this afternoon before getting slammed again.

The biggest question everyone has had about Bitcoin in recent weeks – aside from how it works – is whether or not it's in a bubble.

After all, the virtual currency has seen a remarkable rise since January, when it was trading below $15.

Already this afternoon, since the plunge began, we've seen some interesting defenses of the virtual currency popping up on the Internet.

A Reddit user posted a graphic showing the Spartans' shields from the movie 300 redesigned as Bitcoins with the word HOLD! across the top.

Another Reddit user sought to use technical analysis to explain away today's move.

However, episodes like today's highlight the biggest problem with Bitcoin: confidence.