The price of ether, the token that powers the smart contract-based blockchain platform ethereum, continued its tear today, rising to fresh all-time highs.

At press time, the digital currency’s price surged to as much as $42.89, extending recent gains after rising to record levels yesterday.

Today’s continued rally has coincided with a sharp uptick in trading volume, as this morning, 96% of ether traders on asset-trading platform eToro were purchasing the digital currency, according to senior market analyst Mati Greenspan.

Ether prices have risen over the last several sessions, following the broader digital currency market higher after the SEC opted to reject the bitcoin ETF proposed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

Ether prices have risen more than 100% since then, climbing from a low of $17.68 on 10th March to nearly $43 today.

Analysts have pointed to several factors when explaining ether’s sharp gains as of late, including tailwinds resulting from bitcoin’s ongoing scaling dilemma and the robust returns offered by alternative protocol assets.

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