FOMC Stop Hunt: Forex Chart Markups, 14 September 2026

The FOMC stop hunt of Wednesday 16 September 2026 fired at 14:00 New York, on the Fed decision itself. Gold, AUDUSD and NZDUSD all completed M formations in that candle and USDJPY hunted the stops on the other side of its range, with moves of 64 to 158 pips. Gold fell 132 pips within about an hour, printed the low of the week, and reversed. We marked up 10 textbook setups, 7 partials and two weekly cycles.

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 7 partial.
• Weekly cycle: 2 of 8 markets turned midweek (AUDUSD and XAUUSD).
• Setup of the week: Gold (XAUUSD) on Wednesday, M formation, 3 of 8 on confluence: 132 pips that day, 132 on the week.
• News in sync with a stop hunt: USD Fed Interest Rate Decision (14:00), Fed Monetary Policy Statement (14:00), FOMC Economic Projections (14:00), Interest Rate Projections - 1st year (14:00); GBP BoE Interest Rate Decision, BoE Minutes, BoE Monetary Policy Summary, BoE MPC Vote Rate Cut.

FOMC 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. EURUSD leads with 6 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.

AUDUSD · 61-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 0.70745 on Wednesday 15:15 New York, and the reversal ran 61 pips to 0.71359 by Friday. 2 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: it ran 33 pips past Monday's low, more than a stop hunt.

Gold (XAUUSD) · 165-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 4234.66 on Wednesday 15:00 New York, and the reversal ran 165 pips to 4399.36 by Friday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Tue 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: Gold (XAUUSD) M formation, 16 September 2026

XAUUSD spent the Asian session in a 66-pip range between 4275.15 and 4340.72. New York then broke the high of that range by 21 pips, to 4361.34 at 11:45 New York: the breakout the crowd buys. Price pulled back to a neckline at 4341.39, then ran a second leg to 4366.52 at 14:00 New York, 5 pips past the first leg. That second leg is the stop hunt. It took the stops resting above the first leg and trapped everyone who bought the new high. From there price reversed 132 pips to 4234.66 in 1h, through the whole Asian range.

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

Where the retail stops were

• Sellers' stops above the Asian high, 4340.72: taken by the first leg.
• New stops above the first leg, 4361.34: taken by the second leg.
• Buyers' stops below the neckline, 4341.39: taken as the reversal broke it.
• Buyers' stops below the Asian low, 4275.15: taken as the reversal cleared the range.

The trade. The method sells against the breakout, on the second leg at the high of the day (4366.52). The stricter trigger, the first 15-minute close back inside, came with 57 pips of risk to the extreme and 75 pips to the low of the day, about 1 to 1.3. 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: 3 of 8. It had a second-leg stop hunt, high-impact news in sync and a Tuesday or Wednesday date. Missing: a clear Asian range, a hunt at a session open, the previous day's level taken, the high or low of the week and induction from the week's open. Thursday traded back through the high, by 33 pips.

The rules for this pattern are in How to Read a Forex Chart Markup. For another M formation, on EURUSD, see EURUSD stop hunt, week of 28 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.

Monday · USDCHF · Both sides hunted (42 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 0.81949 (04:15 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range. Then the other side was hunted at 12:45 New York, 2 pips under the Asian low.

Wednesday · EURUSD · London stop hunt (96 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 1.15565 (03:30 New York, 5 pips through Tuesday's high); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Wednesday · AUDUSD · M formation (65 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 0.71395 (14:00 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Wednesday · NZDUSD · M formation (64 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 0.57669 (14:00 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Wednesday · USDJPY · New York stop hunt (158 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 154.837 (14:00 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Thursday · GBPUSD · London stop hunt (70 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 1.34059 (06:45 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Thursday · USDCAD · London stop hunt (28 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 1.40011 (07:45 New York); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Friday · GBPUSD · New York stop hunt (62 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 1.33353 (08:15 New York, 1 pips through Thursday's low); the reversal went through the whole Asian range.

Friday · USDCHF · M formation (44 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 0.82596 (08:15 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.

Thursday · NZDUSD · New York stop hunt (22 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 0.57501 (08:15 New York); the reversal went back inside the Asian range.

Thursday · USDJPY · New York stop hunt (77 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 155.332 (08:15 New York); the reversal went back inside the Asian range.

Thursday · EURUSD · M formation (24 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 1.14977 (10:00 New York); the reversal went back inside the Asian range.

Thursday · USDCHF · W formation (30 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 0.82223 (10:00 New York); the reversal went back inside the Asian range.

Friday · USDCAD · M formation (33 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 1.40142 (07:30 New York); the reversal went back inside the Asian range.

Friday · EURUSD · W formation (36 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 1.14547 (08:15 New York, 0 pips through Thursday's low); the reversal went back inside the Asian range.

Friday · AUDUSD · New York stop hunt (24 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 0.71034 (11:00 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. 3 setups, best 6 of 8 (Friday, W off the low). No midweek reversal.

GBPUSD. 2 setups, best 5 of 8 (Friday, New York stop hunt at the low). No midweek reversal.

USDJPY. 2 setups, best 3 of 8 (Wednesday, New York stop hunt at the low). No midweek reversal.

USDCHF. 4 setups, best 4 of 8 (Friday, M off the high). No midweek reversal.

AUDUSD. 2 setups, best 4 of 8 (Wednesday, M off the high).

USDCAD. 2 setups, best 5 of 8 (Friday, M off the high). No midweek reversal.

NZDUSD. 2 setups, best 4 of 8 (Wednesday, M off the high). No midweek reversal.

Gold (XAUUSD). 1 setup, best 3 of 8 (Wednesday, M off the high).

What this week teaches about reverse price action

A Fed decision is two traps in a row. The first spike took the stops above the highs of the day and completed the M. The fall that followed went straight through the stops under the lows of the week on gold and AUDUSD, and that was the weekly trap. Within an hour both sides of the market had been cleared. Trading the headline means picking a side at the moment both sides are being hunted. Reading it in reverse means waiting to see which stops are left.

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 14 September 2026?

By confluence, EURUSD on Friday: a W off the low that scored 6 of 8. It moved 36 pips that day and 36 on the week. It was the low of the week.

Was there a midweek reversal in the week of 14 September 2026?

Yes, on 2 of the 8 markets we track: AUDUSD and Gold (XAUUSD). The largest was AUDUSD, 61 pips from the low of the week at 0.70745.

What is an M formation in forex?

An M formation is a reversal at a high. Price breaks above the Asian range (the first leg), pulls back to a neckline, then makes a second leg slightly above the first. That second leg takes the stops above the first high and traps breakout buyers. The method only trades an M off the high 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: CPI stop hunt, week of 7 September 2026
• Next week: USDCHF stop hunt, week of 21 September 2026
• EURUSD stop hunt, week of 28 September 2026: another M formation, on EURUSD
• GBPUSD M formation, week of 10 August 2026: another M formation, on GBPUSD
• USDCHF M formation, week of 29 June 2026: another M formation, on USDCHF
• 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.