The Block Inc (ASX: SQ2) share price is the worst performer on the ASX 200 index on Tuesday morning.
At the time of writing, the payments giant's shares are down a massive 11% to $119.07.
This means the Block share price is now down a disappointing 39% from its ASX high of $196.00.
Why is the Block share price crashing?
Investors have been selling down the Block share price on Tuesday due to a combination of significant weakness in the tech sector and company-specific factors.
In respect to the former, overnight the tech-focused Nasdaq index continued its poor run and sank 4.3%. Investors were selling stocks amid concerns that rising interest rates will slow economic growth and potentially even cause a recession.
This means the famous index is now down by a disappointing 26.5% since the start of the year.
What else?
In addition to the above, a material pullback in the bitcoin price could also be weighing on the Block share price. At the time of writing, the bitcoin price is down a whopping 12.5% to US$30,229.50.
The Afterpay-owner generates significant revenue from customers using its Cash App to buy and sell the cryptocurrency, so its weakness could be seen as a negative for the company.
Finally, a number of brokers in the United States have suddenly become bearish on Block's shares, which certainly isn't helping with investor sentiment.
Overnight, analysts at Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and UBS all hit Block with either rating downgrades or lowered price targets. This was despite the Block share price already trading 41% lower since the start of the year prior to yesterday's decline.
Former Afterpay shareholders will no doubt be hoping a strong second quarter wins analysts around and gets Block's shares heading in the right direction again soon.
