AUDUSD W Formation: Forex Chart Markups, 31 August 2026

The AUDUSD W formation on Wednesday 2 September 2026 marked the low of the week at 0.71210 in the London session and rallied 54 pips that day, 93 by Friday. All eight instruments we track showed a weekly cycle, the widest being USDJPY, which fell 510 pips from Wednesday's high. Daily setups were few, 4 textbook and 4 partial, but every weekly chart turned midweek.

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: 4 textbook and 4 partial.
• Weekly cycle: 8 of 8 markets turned midweek (EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, AUDUSD, USDCAD, NZDUSD and XAUUSD).
• Setup of the week: AUDUSD on Wednesday, W formation, 5 of 8 on confluence: 54 pips that day, 93 on the week.
• News in sync with a stop hunt: USD Average Hourly Earnings (MoM), Average Hourly Earnings (YoY), Nonfarm Payrolls.

AUDUSD W formation: how to read these chart markups

New to these charts? Every markup reads price action in reverse. Retail traders are taught the same rules: buy the breakout, sell the breakdown, and put the stop just beyond the last high or low. So we know where their orders sit without seeing an order book. The blue box is the Asian range. The red crosses are retail stop losses. The hatched zone is the stop hunt, where price goes to collect them, and the big number in the header is what the reversal paid in pips. The full walkthrough is in 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.

USDJPY · 510-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 160.392 in Wednesday's session (Tuesday 21:45 New York), and the reversal ran 510 pips to 155.294 by Friday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Tue ranged instead of trending.

AUDUSD · 93-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 0.71210 on Wednesday 06:00 New York, and the reversal ran 93 pips to 0.72142 by Friday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Tue ranged instead of trending.

Gold (XAUUSD) · 229-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 4282.03 in Wednesday's session (Tuesday 23:30 New York), and the reversal ran 229 pips to 4510.64 by Thursday. 4 of 4 textbook checks held.

USDCHF · 104-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 0.81565 on Wednesday 06:30 New York, and the reversal ran 104 pips to 0.80520 by Thursday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: it ran 32 pips past Tuesday's high, more than a stop hunt.

EURUSD · 75-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 1.15662 on Wednesday 03:00 New York, and the reversal ran 75 pips to 1.16412 by Thursday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Tue ranged instead of trending.

GBPUSD · 75-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 1.34743 on Wednesday 08:45 New York, and the reversal ran 75 pips to 1.35490 by Friday. 1 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Tue ranged instead of trending.

USDCAD · 174-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 1.39393 on Wednesday 06:15 New York, and the reversal ran 174 pips to 1.37648 by Thursday. 2 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Tue ranged instead of trending.

NZDUSD · 127-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 0.59286 in Tuesday's session (Monday 20:15 New York), and the reversal ran 127 pips to 0.58017 by Wednesday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Mon ranged instead of trending.

Setup of the week: AUDUSD W formation, 2 September 2026

AUDUSD spent the Asian session in a 22-pip range between 0.71306 and 0.71526. London then broke the low of that range by 5 pips, to 0.71259 at 04:45 New York: the breakdown the crowd sells. Price pulled back to a neckline at 0.71307, then ran a second leg to 0.71210 at 06:00 New York, 5 pips past the first leg. That second leg is the stop hunt. It took the stops resting below the first leg and trapped everyone who sold the new low. From there price reversed 54 pips to 0.71752 in 5h 30m, 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, 0.71306: taken by the first leg.
• Sellers' stops above the neckline, 0.71307: taken as the reversal broke it.
• Sellers' stops above the Asian high, 0.71526: taken as the reversal cleared the range.

The trade. The method buys against the breakout, on the second leg at the low of the day (0.71210). The stricter trigger, the first 15-minute close back inside, came with 11 pips of risk to the extreme and 43 pips to the high of the day, about 1 to 3.9. The method skips anything under 1 to 3, so from that trigger this one qualifies. These numbers are measured after the fact from 15-minute candles.

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

The rules for this pattern are in How to Read a Forex Chart Markup. For another W formation, on USDCAD, see USDCAD midweek reversal, week of 17 August 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.

Friday · Gold (XAUUSD) · London stop hunt (125 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 4490.63 (03:45 New York); price reversed 125 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 3 of 8. The high held for the rest of the week.

Friday · AUDUSD · New York stop hunt (39 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 0.71736 (08:30 New York); price reversed 39 pips, back inside the Asian range. High-impact news in the same candle: USD Average Hourly Earnings (MoM), Average Hourly Earnings (YoY), Nonfarm Payrolls. Confluence 3 of 8. The low held for the rest of the week.

Friday · GBPUSD · New York stop hunt (43 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 1.34815 (08:30 New York); price reversed 43 pips, back inside the Asian range. High-impact news in the same candle: USD Average Hourly Earnings (MoM), Average Hourly Earnings (YoY), Nonfarm Payrolls. Confluence 3 of 8. The low 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 · USDJPY · W formation (42 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 159.472 (04:00 New York); price reversed 42 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 4 of 8. Wednesday traded back through it.

Wednesday · USDCHF · M formation (40 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 0.81565 (06:30 New York); price reversed 40 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 4 of 8. It was the high of the week.

Wednesday · GBPUSD · W formation (39 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 1.34743 (08:45 New York); price reversed 39 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 5 of 8. It was the low of the week.

Wednesday · EURUSD · New York stop hunt (26 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 1.16091 (09:15 New York); price reversed 26 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 3 of 8. Thursday 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. 1 setup, best 3 of 8 (Wednesday, New York stop hunt at the high).

GBPUSD. 2 setups, best 5 of 8 (Wednesday, W off the low).

USDJPY. 1 setup, best 4 of 8 (Monday, W off the low).

USDCHF. 1 setup, best 4 of 8 (Wednesday, M off the high).

AUDUSD. 2 setups, best 5 of 8 (Wednesday, W off the low).

Gold (XAUUSD). 1 setup, best 3 of 8 (Friday, London stop hunt at the high).

What this week teaches about reverse price action

When all eight charts turn in the same week, the midweek reversal stops being a theory about one pair and becomes a statement about the dollar. AUDUSD's W gave the daily entry: a first leg under the Asian range, a neckline, and a second leg that cleared the stops beneath it. The weekly chart gave the reason to hold. A daily setup that lines up with the week's turning point is the highest-value trade the method has, and it showed up on a Wednesday, as described.

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 31 August 2026?

By confluence, AUDUSD on Wednesday: a W off the low that scored 5 of 8. It moved 54 pips that day and 93 on the week. It was the low of the week.

Was there a midweek reversal in the week of 31 August 2026?

Yes, on 8 of the 8 markets we track: EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, AUDUSD, USDCAD, NZDUSD and Gold (XAUUSD). The largest was USDJPY, 510 pips from the high of the week at 160.392.

What is a W formation in forex?

A W formation is the mirror image of an M, at a low. Price breaks below the Asian range, bounces to a neckline, then makes a second leg slightly under the first low. The second leg takes the stops under the first low and traps breakdown sellers. The method only trades a W off the low of the day.

What is the difference between a textbook and a partial setup?

A setup is graded textbook when the reversal clears the whole Asian range or runs at least three quarters of the pair's average daily range. It is partial when the structure printed but the reversal stalled inside the range.

Related chart markups

• Previous week: AUDUSD stop hunt, week of 24 August 2026
• Next week: CPI stop hunt, week of 7 September 2026
• USDCAD midweek reversal, week of 17 August 2026: another W formation, on USDCAD
• Gold W formation, week of 3 August 2026: another W formation, on Gold (XAUUSD)
• USDJPY W formation, week of 13 July 2026: another W formation, on USDJPY
• 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.