Bitcoin tumbles another 6%, extending biggest slide since COVID-19 struck

• Bitcoin slumped further through the Thanksgiving holiday as intense profit-taking dragged on prices.
• The world's most popular cryptocurrency has tumbled as much as 5.9%, to $16,242.70, over the past 24 hours.
• The slump was Bitcoin's biggest since the coronavirus pandemic slammed markets in March, and it reversed the weeks-long rally that placed the token within a hair of its record high.
• Other cryptocurrencies including Ethereum and XRP were caught in the sell-off and sank as well.
• Watch bitcoin trade live here.

Profit-taking over the Thanksgiving holiday stalled Bitcoin's rally and kept the token from overtaking a 2017 record.

The world's most popular cryptocurrency has sunk as much as 5.9%, to $16,242.70, over the last 24 hours. The slide was Bitcoin's biggest since the coronavirus pandemic first roiled markets in March, and it reversed the weeks-long uptrend fueled by renewed bullishness.

Bitcoin came within $300 of an all-time high on Wednesday, when it reached an intraday high of $19,494. As the coin cleared the $19,000 resistance level on Tuesday, all eyes were on whether it could rise above $20,000 for the first time.

Read more: Morgan Stanley's Mike Wilson called the last 2 market sell-offs. He told us the 3 indicators he used to make his predictions — and detailed how he keeps his cool in downturns when others are making doomsday forecasts.

"This instrument remains as volatile and highly speculative as ever," Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at Oanda Europe, said on Friday. "There may be more reasons to be bullish on cryptos than there were three years ago, but some things simply haven't changed. The wild ride continues."

The cryptocurrency's sell-off dragged on other tokens throughout the day. Ethereum fell as much as 8.1% and XRP sank by 15.9% at 24-hour lows.

Bitcoin enjoyed extraordinary momentum heading into the Thanksgiving holiday. PayPal's adoption of cryptocurrencies sparked the token's rally in October, and bullish commentary from Wall Street giants including Mike Novogratz and Rick Rieder further boosted prices. New interest from retail investors extended the surge before Thursday's about-face.

Read more: Goldman Sachs hedge fund VIP list has crushed the S&P 500 60% of the time since 2001. These are the 15 stocks hedge funds love and hate the most right now.

Bitcoin has still more than doubled in 2020 despite its slump. The magnitude of its rise and fall through the year resembles its boom and bust of 2017. It remains to be seen whether intense price swings pull Bitcoin back to about $3,000, as it did three years ago. While some have touted a wider investor base as a key support for the cryptocurrency, others are unconvinced that Bitcoin's wild volatility will cool anytime soon.

Bitcoin traded at $17,054.31 as of 8:20 a.m. ET, up 135% year-to-date.

Now read more markets coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:

An innovation-focused portfolio manager at a $158 billion firm shares 8 disruptive stocks across multiple industries he thinks could grow 30% every year over the next decade

The stock-market impact of millennial investors has been overblown as trading volumes decline — and it's actually the older crowd who's exerted more influence, JPMorgan says

US corporate profits jumped a record $495 billion in the 3rd quarter as the economy reopened