Bitcoin 

BTC

$18,117

 got a boost from the start of Wall Street trading on Feb. 28 as U.S. stocks opened to a defining week for markets amid geopolitical tensions.

Traders eye BTC exit beyound $40,000

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD spiking to $40,560 on Bitstamp after the opening bell on Feb. 28.

The move concluded what had been a relatively calm weekend punctuated only by a comedown into the weekly close.

With the monthly close approaching, eyes were on whether Bitcoin could definitively avoid sealing a fourth month of declines in a row. 

With the Wall Street gap up totaling $1,900 in an hour, the mood among traders favored an attack of $40,000 resistance to reassert presence higher.

For popular trader and analyst Crypto Ed, $42,000 was an area of interest.

U.S. stocks were meanwhile unexpectedly calm on the open in the wake of a sea change in relations with Russia, including the almost total ban on transacting with its central bank.

The S&P 500 traded down around 1% at the time of writing, with the Federal Reserve possibly already taking action to cushion the blow of Russian sanctions.

"From here, the idea is that if BTC can break 39.5k I think 41.5/42.0k comes next, and I'd expect LUNA to continue outperforming. Keeping my focus on it as long as it works," popular Twitter account Pierre wrote in a cross-crypto update.

Altcoins see calm start of week trading

On the topic of Terra's

LUNA

$1.56

token, this was one of only two standouts among major altcoins at the time of writing.

Related: War puts BTC price to the test — 5 things to watch in Bitcoin this week

LUNA/USD was up 3.9% at $78.27, still behind leader Solana 

SOL

$16

, which managed 4.4%.

By contrast, Ether 

ETH

$1,396

, the largest altcoin by market cap, was down 1.6% on the day at $2,718.

For most, however, even the short-term timeframes remained a mystery thanks to geopolitical events.

"I honestly, honestly, don't know what to expect this week from the markets. Slightly in favor of higher for risk-on assets, but it's an equal bet almost," Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe admitted.