Looks like another factor is that the Grand Imam just declared yesterday that Bitcoin is Halal, meaning in accordance with Islamic scripture. Generally Islam frowns upon speculation r in non-backed assets, and several months ago 2 clergy were fired over dealings in Bitcoin. I don't know the reasoning behind the about-face, but the result is that a group of some 1.8 billion worldwide, some from some pretty wealthy countries, are getting into the crypto game.
Also, 2 days ago VenRock (the Rockefellers' venture capital firm) announced that they were going to begin investing in blockchain tech and the companies working on it. Billionaire George Soros also hinted recently that he might be "getting into" cryptocurrency trading. Now obviously with what a statement like this can do to the markets, it's probably a good bet that he was neck deep in positions already before saying so. With big money like the Rockefellers and Soros in the pool the water is sure to heat up.
There's actually a conspiracy theory going around that when the big players saw the potential of BTC and other coins in December, they manipulated the market so that it would crash and they could get in on the cheap, slowly enough that prices wouldn't rise until their positions were consolidated and the announcements were made. Given the anonymity of crypto we'll never know if this is the case, but it's not as far-fetched as saying we never landed on the moon etc.