By Pete Rizzo,

The price of bitcoin inched upward over the course of trading today, passing $1,000 for the first time on CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index since early January 2014.

Though the price (at press time) was still shy of a three-year high of $1,023 set in January of that year, the milestone nonetheless marks a bright beginning to 2017 for the digital currency. (Bitcoin appreciated by more than 100% in 2016).

The price had reached as high as $999 earlier in the day only to fall back to the $960s, a pattern that was similarly observed over the last week of trading as bitcoin failed to build momentum toward $1,000.

The increase notably took place during what was a day of lower-than-average trading volume, 7-day exchange data from Bitcoinity reveals.

As asserted by analysts, 2017 is expected to be a banner year, one that could finally lead the price to pass its all-time high of $1,216.7 set in 2013.