I just did another search, and found that one possible reason for the increase could be the gaining popularity of the Splinterlands Card game. As I understand it, Splinterlands is not only based on the Steem blockchain, but the game uses Steem within the game itself. i.e. 93,337 Steem were traded so far in January alone with just 3353 players. While the game does certainly shows potential, I don't know if this will actually have a significant effect on the Steem coin, or if it is at all responsible's for the coin's current rise. It will of course be something to watch.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/526764488/splinterlands-untamed-a-blockchain-trading-card-game

https://www.stateofthedapps.com/dapps/splinterlands