It has been a very bad day for the ASX 200 index. In afternoon trade the benchmark index is down over 6% and the ASX boards are a sea of red.
One particularly poor performer on Monday has been the Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price.
At one stage today the payments company's shares were down as much as 19% to $26.68.
They have since recovered a touch, but are still down a sizeable 15.5% to $27.82 at the time of writing.
Why is the Afterpay share price crashing lower today?
Investors have been selling shares today after the coronavirus outbreak escalated globally and oil prices collapsed to their lowest levels in years.
This has hit investor sentiment hard, leading to many investors selling off risk assets and buying safe haven assets like gold and gold miners such as Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM).
Given the premium that Afterpay and fellow tech shares WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) and Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) trade at and the high level of future growth already priced in, they have been hit harder than most today.
At the time of writing the S&P/ASX 200 information technology index is down almost 9%.
Is this a buying opportunity?
When the dust settles and global markets return to normal service, I think Afterpay would be a great option for investors.
But given the volatility we are experiencing at the moment, I'm not confident its shares have bottomed just yet and thus wouldn't recommend rushing in to buy shares immediately.
However, one thing that I am confident about, is that in 10 years the Afterpay share price will be materially higher than where it trades today.
Given the popularity of its service globally and its massive market opportunity, I don't believe the coronavirus or oil prices will derail its long term growth.
This sharp pullback may be disappointing for shareholders, but it could prove to be an incredible buying opportunity for non-shareholders once the volatility eases.
