EURUSD W Formation: Forex Chart Markups, 18 May 2026

The EURUSD W formation on Thursday 21 May 2026 printed the low of the week at 1.15763, right as US PMI data hit at 09:45 New York, and scored 7 of 8 on confluence. USDCHF, USDJPY and gold hunted stops in the same candle. It capped a week with 10 textbook setups, 6 partials and five weekly cycles across the majors 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: 10 textbook and 6 partial.
• Weekly cycle: 5 of 8 markets turned midweek (EURUSD, USDCHF, AUDUSD, USDCAD and XAUUSD).
• Setup of the week: EURUSD on Thursday, W formation, 7 of 8 on confluence: 54 pips that day, 54 on the week.
• News in sync with a stop hunt: CAD BoC Consumer Price Index Core (YoY), CAD Consumer Price Index (YoY); GBP S&P Global Composite PMI, S&P Global Manufacturing PMI, S&P Global Services PMI; USD S&P Global Manufacturing PMI, S&P Global Services PMI.

EURUSD 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. EURUSD leads with 7 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.

USDCAD · 100-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 1.37239 in Thursday's session (Wednesday 17:00 New York), and the reversal ran 100 pips to 1.38237 by Friday. 2 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: the low of the week came Thursday, not Tuesday or Wednesday.

AUDUSD · 95-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 0.70789 on Tuesday 10:45 New York, and the reversal ran 95 pips to 0.71739 by Wednesday. 1 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Mon ranged instead of trending.

EURUSD · 85-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 1.16616 in Tuesday's session (Monday 18:00 New York), and the reversal ran 85 pips to 1.15763 by Thursday. 4 of 4 textbook checks held.

USDCHF · 69-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 0.79066 on Wednesday 10:00 New York, and the reversal ran 69 pips to 0.78378 by Friday. 4 of 4 textbook checks held.

Gold (XAUUSD) · 136-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 4589.30 in Tuesday's session (Monday 20:00 New York), and the reversal ran 136 pips to 4453.15 by Wednesday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Mon ranged instead of trending.

No weekly cycle chart for GBPUSD, USDJPY 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: EURUSD W formation, 21 May 2026

EURUSD spent the Asian session in a 20-pip range between 1.16155 and 1.16352. New York then broke the low of that range by 22 pips, to 1.15933 at 08:15 New York: the breakdown the crowd sells. Price pulled back to a neckline at 1.16090, then ran a second leg to 1.15763 at 09:30 New York, 17 pips past the first leg and 6 pips through Wednesday's low (1.15826). 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 1.16300 in 4h 15m, back inside the 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, 1.16155: taken by the first leg.
• Stops below Wednesday's low, 1.15826: taken by the second leg.
• Sellers' stops above the neckline, 1.16090: taken as the reversal broke it.
• Sellers' stops above the Asian high, 1.16352: not reached.

The trade. The method buys against the breakout, on the second leg at the low of the day (1.15763). The stricter trigger, the first 15-minute close back inside, came with 18 pips of risk to the extreme and 35 pips to the high of the day, about 1 to 1.9. 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: 7 of 8. It had a clear Asian range, a second-leg stop hunt, a hunt at a session open, the previous day's level taken, high-impact news in sync, the high or low of the week and induction from the week's open. Missing: a Tuesday or Wednesday date. It is the low of the week.

The rules for this pattern are in How to Read a Forex Chart Markup. For the same W formation on EURUSD, see CPI stop hunt, week of 7 September 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 · USDJPY · New York stop hunt (60 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 158.650 (08:30 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Wednesday · USDCAD · Both sides hunted (47 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 1.37780 (05:45 New York, 4 pips through Tuesday's high); the reversal went through the whole Asian range. Then the other side was hunted at 11:15 New York, 11 pips under the Asian low.

Wednesday · USDCHF · New York stop hunt (50 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 0.79066 (10:00 New York, 1 pips through Tuesday's high); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Wednesday · USDJPY · New York stop hunt (58 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 159.166 (10:00 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Thursday · GBPUSD · Both sides hunted (63 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 1.34546 (04:15 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range. Then the other side was hunted at 09:45 New York, 27 pips under the Asian low.

Thursday · USDCHF · M formation (46 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 0.79036 (09:30 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Thursday · NZDUSD · New York stop hunt (42 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 0.58459 (09:45 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Friday · GBPUSD · London stop hunt (50 pips). London took the stops below the Asian low at 1.34130 (03:00 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Friday · USDCHF · London stop hunt (38 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 0.78757 (03:00 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

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 · AUDUSD · M formation (37 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 0.71840 (08:45 New York); the reversal went back inside the Asian range.

Monday · Gold (XAUUSD) · M formation (52 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 4584.02 (09:45 New York); the reversal went back inside the Asian range.

Tuesday · USDCAD · M formation (31 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 1.37737 (08:30 New York); the reversal went back inside the Asian range.

Thursday · USDJPY · New York stop hunt (53 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 159.350 (09:30 New York, 18 pips through Wednesday's high); the reversal went back inside the Asian range.

Thursday · Gold (XAUUSD) · W formation (71 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 4488.34 (09:30 New York); the reversal went back inside the Asian range.

Friday · EURUSD · W formation (31 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 1.15881 (10:15 New York); the reversal went back inside the Asian range.

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 7 of 8 (Thursday, W off the low).

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

USDJPY. 3 setups, best 5 of 8 (Thursday, New York stop hunt at the high). No midweek reversal.

USDCHF. 3 setups, best 5 of 8 (Thursday, M off the high).

AUDUSD. 1 setup, best 5 of 8 (Monday, M off the high).

USDCAD. 3 setups, best 7 of 8 (Tuesday, M off the high).

NZDUSD. 1 setup, best 3 of 8 (Thursday, New York stop hunt at the low). No midweek reversal.

Gold (XAUUSD). 2 setups, best 4 of 8 (Thursday, W off the low).

What this week teaches about reverse price action

Read the W against the week. EURUSD made its high in Tuesday's session, then spent two days falling 85 pips, and by Thursday the crowd was selling every bounce. The second leg of the W took the stops under the first leg at the New York open, with a news release to bring in the last sellers. That is the same mechanism as the weekly trap, one timeframe down: an induction that makes one direction feel safe, then a hunt of the stops that direction created.

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 18 May 2026?

By confluence, EURUSD on Thursday: a W off the low that scored 7 of 8. It moved 54 pips that day and 54 on the week. It was the low of the week.

Was there a midweek reversal in the week of 18 May 2026?

Yes, on 5 of the 8 markets we track: EURUSD, USDCHF, AUDUSD, USDCAD and Gold (XAUUSD). The largest was USDCAD, 100 pips from the low of the week at 1.37239.

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.

Why do stop hunts happen on news releases?

A scheduled release brings the most orders into the market at a known minute. Price is often already sitting next to a level with stops behind it, and the release supplies the volume to take them. The timing of the event matters more than the number.

Related chart markups

• Previous week: GBPUSD W formation, week of 11 May 2026
• Next week: USDCAD M formation, week of 25 May 2026
• CPI stop hunt, week of 7 September 2026: the same W formation on EURUSD
• USDCAD W formation, week of 8 June 2026: another W formation, on USDCAD
• EURUSD midweek reversal, week of 22 June 2026: the same W formation on EURUSD
• 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.