Forex Weekly Cycle: Chart Markups, 4 May 2026

The forex weekly cycle showed up on five pairs in the week of 4 May 2026, and on four of them it matched the textbook: an induction trend on Monday, the trap on Tuesday, then the reversal. EURUSD, AUDUSD and NZDUSD all printed their low of the week around 01:00 New York on Tuesday and rallied 120 to 142 pips by Wednesday. Daily setups were scarce: 3 textbook and 2 partial.

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: 3 textbook and 2 partial.
• Weekly cycle: 5 of 8 markets turned midweek (EURUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, AUDUSD and NZDUSD).
• Setup of the week: Gold (XAUUSD) on Thursday, M formation, 3 of 8 on confluence: 80 pips that day, 89 on the week.
• News in sync with a stop hunt: EUR Retail Sales (YoY); USD Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index.

Forex weekly cycle: how to read these chart markups

If this is your first markup, read it backwards. We are not asking where price will go. We are asking where the crowd has put its orders, because retail education puts them in the same places every week: stops above the highs, stops below the lows, breakout orders just past both. On each chart the blue box is the Asian range, the bands of red crosses are retail stop losses, the hatched zone is the stop hunt, and the header shows the pips the reversal made. How to Read a Forex Chart Markup explains every mark.

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. Gold (XAUUSD) leads with 3 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.

EURUSD · 120-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 1.16764 on Tuesday 01:00 New York, and the reversal ran 120 pips to 1.17966 by Wednesday. 4 of 4 textbook checks held.

USDJPY · 290-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 157.930 in Wednesday's session (Tuesday 18:00 New York), and the reversal ran 290 pips to 155.029 by Wednesday. 4 of 4 textbook checks held.

USDCHF · 88-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 0.78478 on Tuesday 01:00 New York, and the reversal ran 88 pips to 0.77599 by Friday. 4 of 4 textbook checks held.

AUDUSD · 142-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 0.71353 on Tuesday 01:30 New York, and the reversal ran 142 pips to 0.72772 by Wednesday. 5 of 5 textbook checks held.

NZDUSD · 134-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 0.58562 on Tuesday 01:00 New York, and the reversal ran 134 pips to 0.59907 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, USDCAD and Gold (XAUUSD): 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, 7 May 2026

XAUUSD spent the Asian session in a 65-pip range between 4684.97 and 4749.81. New York then broke the high of that range by 10 pips, to 4759.35 at 10:15 New York: the breakout the crowd buys. Price pulled back to a neckline at 4747.48, then ran a second leg to 4764.60 at 11:00 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 80 pips to 4684.57 in 5h 45m, 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, 4749.81: taken by the first leg.
• Buyers' stops below the neckline, 4747.48: taken as the reversal broke it.
• Buyers' stops below the Asian low, 4684.97: 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 (4764.60). The stricter trigger, the first 15-minute close back inside, came with 10 pips of risk to the extreme and 70 pips to the low of the day, about 1 to 7.0. 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: 3 of 8. It had a second-leg stop hunt, the high or low of the week and induction from the week's open. Missing: a clear Asian range, a hunt at a session open, the previous day's level taken, high-impact news in sync and a Tuesday or Wednesday date. It is the high of the week.

The rules for this pattern are in How to Read a Forex Chart Markup. For the same M formation on Gold (XAUUSD), see gold M formation, week of 15 June 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.

Wednesday · USDCAD · London stop hunt (64 pips). London took the stops below the Asian low at 1.35774 (04:45 New York); price reversed 64 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 1 of 8. The low held for the rest of the week.

Thursday · EURUSD · M formation (56 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 1.17783 (05:45 New York); price reversed 56 pips, through the whole Asian range. High-impact news in the same candle: EUR Retail Sales (YoY). Confluence 3 of 8. Friday traded back through it.

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.

Tuesday · GBPUSD · M formation (44 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 1.35783 (11:45 New York); price reversed 44 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 3 of 8. Wednesday traded back through it.

Friday · Gold (XAUUSD) · New York stop hunt (47 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 4749.24 (10:00 New York); price reversed 47 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 2 of 8. The high held for the rest of the week.

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 (Thursday, M off the high).

GBPUSD. 1 setup, best 3 of 8 (Tuesday, M off the high). No midweek reversal.

USDCAD. 1 setup, best 1 of 8 (Wednesday, London stop hunt at the low). No midweek reversal.

Gold (XAUUSD). 2 setups, best 3 of 8 (Thursday, M off the high). No midweek reversal.

What this week teaches about reverse price action

This week the trap printed in the Asian session, hours before London opened. The method only trades M and W formations in London and New York, so there was no daily entry at the low. The weekly cycle tells you where the week turned; it does not hand you a trigger. What it does give you is direction for the rest of the week. Once Tuesday's low was in and the induction was erased, every dip into Wednesday was a dip inside a reversal.

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 4 May 2026?

By confluence, Gold (XAUUSD) on Thursday: an M off the high that scored 3 of 8. It moved 80 pips that day and 89 on the week. It was the high of the week.

Was there a midweek reversal in the week of 4 May 2026?

Yes, on 5 of the 8 markets we track: EURUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, AUDUSD and NZDUSD. The largest was EURUSD, 120 pips from the low of the week at 1.16764.

What is the midweek reversal?

The midweek reversal is the turn in the weekly cycle. The first days of the week trend one way (the induction), the high or low of the week prints on Tuesday or Wednesday (the trap), and price reverses through Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

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 BoC stop hunt, week of 27 April 2026
• Next week: GBPUSD W formation, week of 11 May 2026
• Gold M formation, week of 15 June 2026: the same M formation on Gold (XAUUSD)
• FOMC stop hunt, week of 14 September 2026: the same M formation on Gold (XAUUSD)
• EURUSD M formation, week of 13 April 2026: another M 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.