AUDUSD Stop Hunt: Forex Chart Markups, 24 August 2026

An AUDUSD stop hunt early in London on Tuesday 25 August 2026 took the stops under the Asian range, printed the low of the week at 0.71373, and started a 70-pip climb. The week ended the way it began: on Friday at 10:00 New York a second stop hunt marked the high of the week at 0.72075. We marked up 8 textbook setups, 4 partials and two weekly cycles, on AUDUSD and gold.

The week in brief

• Markets: the seven forex majors and gold (XAUUSD, counted at 1 pip = $1), on 15-minute and 1-hour candles.
• Daily setups: 8 textbook and 4 partial.
• Weekly cycle: 2 of 8 markets turned midweek (AUDUSD and XAUUSD).
• Setup of the week: AUDUSD on Tuesday, London stop hunt, 5 of 8 on confluence: 31 pips that day, 70 on the week.
• News in sync with a stop hunt: USD Fed's Chair Warsh speech, Nonfarm Payrolls Benchmark Revision.

AUDUSD stop hunt: how to read these chart markups

A quick key for new readers. These charts use reverse price action, which is reverse psychology applied to the chart: the textbook breakout is treated as the trap, not the trade. The Asian range (blue box) is where retail marks support and resistance. The retail stop losses (red crosses) rest just beyond it. The stop hunt (hatched zone) is price collecting them, and the pips figure in the header is the reversal that followed. Start with How to Read a Forex Chart Markup.

The week at a glance: confluence ranking

Every daily setup of the week on one page, best first. The score is a tally of the eight confirmations the method lists, and the last column says what the rest of the week did with each level. AUDUSD leads with 5 of 8.

The weekly cycle: induction, trap, reversal

The weekly cycle is the bigger picture behind every daily setup: an induction trend early in the week, the high or low of the week on Tuesday or Wednesday, then the reversal. We only draw it when the week actually turned, and each chart carries a checklist of which parts held. The idea is laid out in How to Read a Forex Chart Markup.

Gold (XAUUSD) · 251-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 4696.64 in Tuesday's session (Monday 20:30 New York), and the reversal ran 251 pips to 4445.20 by Friday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Mon ranged instead of trending.

AUDUSD · 70-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 0.71373 on Tuesday 04:00 New York, and the reversal ran 70 pips to 0.72075 by Friday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Mon ranged instead of trending.

No weekly cycle chart for EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, USDCAD and NZDUSD: those markets did not make a midweek high or low and then reverse by at least 1.25 average daily ranges.

Setup of the week: AUDUSD London stop hunt, 25 August 2026

AUDUSD spent the Asian session in a 17-pip range between 0.71423 and 0.71589. London then pushed 5 pips past the Asian low, to 0.71373 at 04:00 New York and 3 pips through Monday's low (0.71401): the breakdown the crowd sells. There was no first leg and neckline beyond the range, so this is a plain stop hunt of the Asian range, not an M or a W. Price did not continue. It reversed 31 pips to 0.71680 in 12h 15m, through the whole Asian range.

Now read it in reverse. At each of those prices, whose orders were waiting?

Where the retail stops were

• Buyers' stops below the Asian low, 0.71423: taken by the stop hunt.
• Stops below Monday's low, 0.71401: taken by the stop hunt.
• Sellers' stops above the Asian high, 0.71589: taken as the reversal cleared the range.

The trade. The method buys against the breakout, on the stop hunt past the Asian low (0.71373). The stricter trigger, the first 15-minute close back inside, came with 9 pips of risk to the extreme and 22 pips to the high of the day, about 1 to 2.4. The method skips anything under 1 to 3, so from that trigger this one does not qualify. These numbers are measured after the fact from 15-minute candles.

Confirmations: 5 of 8. It had a clear Asian range, a hunt at a session open, the previous day's level taken, a Tuesday or Wednesday date and the high or low of the week. Missing: a second-leg stop hunt, high-impact news in sync and induction from the week's open. It is the low of the week.

The mindset behind fading a breakout is in How to Read a Forex Chart Markup. For another stop hunt, on USDJPY, see USDJPY midweek reversal, week of 27 July 2026.

Textbook setups, day by day

A setup is textbook when the reversal clears the whole Asian range, or runs at least three quarters of the pair's average daily range. The daily cycle behind all of them, Asia consolidating, London breaking out and the reversal after, is covered in How to Read a Forex Chart Markup.

Tuesday · NZDUSD · London stop hunt (36 pips). London took the stops below the Asian low at 0.59459 (04:00 New York); price reversed 36 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 4 of 8. Wednesday traded back through it.

Thursday · GBPUSD · Both sides hunted (32 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 1.35705 (06:00 New York); price reversed 32 pips, through the whole Asian range. Then the other side was hunted at 09:15 New York, 5 pips above the Asian high. Confluence 4 of 8. Friday traded back through it.

Thursday · EURUSD · W formation (23 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 1.16364 (07:45 New York); price reversed 23 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 4 of 8. Friday traded back through it.

Friday · AUDUSD · New York stop hunt (52 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 0.72075 (10:00 New York); price reversed 52 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 4 of 8. It was the high of the week.

Friday · EURUSD · New York stop hunt (81 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 1.16589 (10:00 New York); price reversed 81 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 2 of 8. The high held for the rest of the week.

Friday · USDCAD · W formation (67 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 1.38423 (10:00 New York); price reversed 67 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 3 of 8. The low held for the rest of the week.

Friday · Gold (XAUUSD) · New York stop hunt (186 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 4630.84 (10:00 New York); price reversed 186 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 2 of 8. The high held for the rest of the week.

Partial setups: the structure without the follow-through

These printed the structure, but the reversal stalled inside the Asian range. They are worth studying for exactly that reason: the trap was real and the payoff was small.

Monday · GBPUSD · London stop hunt (29 pips). London took the stops below the Asian low at 1.36209 (04:45 New York); price reversed 29 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 0 of 8. Wednesday traded back through it.

Monday · Gold (XAUUSD) · M formation (56 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 4680.65 (09:30 New York); price reversed 56 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 3 of 8. Its high became the target of the weekly trap.

Tuesday · USDJPY · London stop hunt (41 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 159.489 (04:00 New York); price reversed 41 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 2 of 8. Thursday traded back through it.

Thursday · Gold (XAUUSD) · W formation (54 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 4564.23 (09:45 New York); price reversed 54 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 5 of 8. Friday traded back through it.

Daily and weekly confluence, pair by pair

Each chart pins a pair's daily setups on its hourly chart for the week. The solid line is the move that day, the dashed line is how far it ran before the level was traded back through, and a gold band marks a weekly reversal. The table under each chart ticks the confirmations.

EURUSD. 2 setups, best 4 of 8 (Thursday, W off the low). No midweek reversal.

GBPUSD. 3 setups, best 4 of 8 (Thursday, W off the low). No midweek reversal.

USDJPY. 1 setup, best 2 of 8 (Tuesday, London stop hunt at the high). No midweek reversal.

AUDUSD. 2 setups, best 5 of 8 (Tuesday, London stop hunt at the low).

USDCAD. 1 setup, best 3 of 8 (Friday, W off the low). No midweek reversal.

NZDUSD. 1 setup, best 4 of 8 (Tuesday, London stop hunt at the low). No midweek reversal.

Gold (XAUUSD). 3 setups, best 5 of 8 (Thursday, W off the low).

What this week teaches about reverse price action

AUDUSD gave a full weekly cycle in two stop hunts. Tuesday's took the sell side: buyers' stops under the Asian low, plus the sellers who chased the break. Friday's took the buy side at the top. Between them price simply travelled from one pool of orders to the other. If you can mark where each group has its stops, the week stops looking like noise and starts looking like a route.

On the news itself: the event gives the crowd its reason, and the chart shows where the orders already were.

Frequently asked questions

What was the best forex setup in the week of 24 August 2026?

By confluence, AUDUSD on Tuesday: a London stop hunt at the low that scored 5 of 8. It moved 31 pips that day and 70 on the week. It was the low of the week.

Was there a midweek reversal in the week of 24 August 2026?

Yes, on 2 of the 8 markets we track: AUDUSD and Gold (XAUUSD). The largest was Gold (XAUUSD), 251 pips from the high of the week at 4696.64.

What is a stop hunt in forex?

A stop hunt is a push through an obvious high or low, where retail stop losses and breakout orders are clustered, followed by a reversal. The push triggers the stops and fills the breakout traders in the same moment, and that burst of orders is the liquidity larger players need.

What is a liquidity sweep?

A liquidity sweep is the moment price takes the stops resting beyond a level, usually the edge of the Asian range or the first leg of an M or W. On the charts it is the hatched zone between the level and the extreme.

Related chart markups

• Previous week: USDCAD midweek reversal, week of 17 August 2026
• Next week: AUDUSD W formation, week of 31 August 2026
• USDJPY midweek reversal, week of 27 July 2026: another stop hunt, on USDJPY
• USDCHF stop hunt, week of 21 September 2026: another stop hunt, on USDCHF
• GBPUSD stop hunt, week of 20 July 2026: another stop hunt, on GBPUSD
• All forex chart markups, week by week
• How to Read a Forex Chart Markup: what every mark on these charts means

Learn to read the chart this way. The Forexia Academy courses cover the Asian range, M and W formations and the weekly cycle step by step. Browse the courses.

These chart markups are made after the fact, for study. They are not signals and not trade advice. Candles: Dukascopy. Economic calendar: FXStreet. All times are New York. Stop-loss positions are the method's reading of the structure, not order-book data.