GBPUSD M Formation: Forex Chart Markups, 10 August 2026

The GBPUSD M formation on Wednesday 12 August 2026 scored 7 of 8: a second-leg stop hunt at 1.35454, at 08:30 New York, in the same candle as US CPI. It fell 58 pips that day. EURUSD, AUDUSD and NZDUSD topped half an hour later on the same release. The high did not survive the week, though: Friday traded back through it. We marked up 6 textbook setups, 5 partials and three 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: 6 textbook and 5 partial.
• Weekly cycle: 3 of 8 markets turned midweek (EURUSD, NZDUSD and XAUUSD).
• Setup of the week: GBPUSD on Wednesday, M formation, 7 of 8 on confluence: 58 pips that day, 71 on the week.
• News in sync with a stop hunt: USD Consumer Price Index (MoM), Consumer Price Index (YoY), Consumer Price Index ex Food & Energy (MoM), Consumer Price Index ex Food & Energy (YoY); USD Retail Sales (MoM), Retail Sales Control Group.

GBPUSD M 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. GBPUSD 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.

NZDUSD · 77-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 0.58209 on Thursday 02:30 New York, and the reversal ran 77 pips to 0.58980 by Friday. 0 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: the low of the week came Thursday, not Tuesday or Wednesday.

EURUSD · 74-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 1.15117 on Thursday 02:30 New York, and the reversal ran 74 pips to 1.15854 by Friday. 2 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: the low of the week came Thursday, not Tuesday or Wednesday.

Gold (XAUUSD) · 139-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 4449.45 in Thursday's session (Wednesday 20:30 New York), and the reversal ran 139 pips to 4310.38 by Friday. 2 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: the high of the week came Thursday, not Tuesday or Wednesday.

No weekly cycle chart for GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, AUDUSD and USDCAD: 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: GBPUSD M formation, 12 August 2026

GBPUSD spent the Asian session in a 10-pip range between 1.35008 and 1.35112. London then broke the high of that range by 18 pips, to 1.35292 at 05:15 New York, taking Tuesday's high (1.35156) on the way: the breakout the crowd buys. Price pulled back to a neckline at 1.35106, then ran a second leg to 1.35454 at 08:30 New York, 16 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 58 pips to 1.34874 in 6h 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

• Sellers' stops above the Asian high, 1.35112: taken by the first leg.
• New stops above the first leg, 1.35292: taken by the second leg.
• Stops above Tuesday's high, 1.35156: taken by the first leg.
• Buyers' stops below the neckline, 1.35106: taken as the reversal broke it.
• Buyers' stops below the Asian low, 1.35008: 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 (1.35454). The stricter trigger, the first 15-minute close back inside, came with 19 pips of risk to the extreme and 39 pips to the low of the day, about 1 to 2.1. 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, a Tuesday or Wednesday date and induction from the week's open. Missing: the high or low of the week. Friday traded back through the high, by 16 pips.

The rules for this pattern are in How to Read a Forex Chart Markup. For another M formation, on Gold (XAUUSD), see FOMC stop hunt, week of 14 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 · AUDUSD · London stop hunt (22 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 0.70738 (04:15 New York); price reversed 22 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 1 of 8. Wednesday traded back through it.

Wednesday · USDCHF · New York stop hunt (45 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 0.80935 (08:30 New York); price reversed 45 pips, through the whole Asian range. High-impact news in the same candle: USD Consumer Price Index (MoM), Consumer Price Index (YoY), Consumer Price Index ex Food & Energy (MoM), Consumer Price Index ex Food & Energy (YoY). Confluence 4 of 8. The low held for the rest of the week.

Wednesday · EURUSD · M formation (43 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 1.15628 (09:00 New York, 13 pips through Tuesday's high); price reversed 43 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 5 of 8. Friday traded back through it.

Wednesday · NZDUSD · New York stop hunt (31 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 0.58849 (09:00 New York); price reversed 31 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 2 of 8. Friday traded back through it.

Wednesday · USDCAD · W formation (39 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 1.39074 (10:00 New York); price reversed 39 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 5 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.

Monday · NZDUSD · London stop hunt (21 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 0.58992 (05:15 New York); price reversed 21 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 1 of 8. It was the high of the week.

Wednesday · AUDUSD · M formation (31 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 0.70908 (09:00 New York); price reversed 31 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 6 of 8. Friday traded back through it.

Thursday · GBPUSD · M formation (34 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 1.35128 (10:15 New York); price reversed 34 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 2 of 8. Friday traded back through it.

Friday · USDCHF · New York stop hunt (32 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 0.81031 (08:30 New York, 9 pips through Thursday's low); price reversed 32 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 4 of 8. The low held for the rest of the week.

Friday · USDJPY · New York stop hunt (80 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 158.601 (08:30 New York, 42 pips through Thursday's low); price reversed 80 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 3 of 8. The low 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 5 of 8 (Wednesday, M off the high).

GBPUSD. 2 setups, best 7 of 8 (Wednesday, M off the high). No midweek reversal.

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

USDCHF. 2 setups, best 4 of 8 (Wednesday, New York stop hunt at the low). No midweek reversal.

AUDUSD. 2 setups, best 6 of 8 (Wednesday, M off the high). No midweek reversal.

USDCAD. 1 setup, best 5 of 8 (Wednesday, W off the low). No midweek reversal.

NZDUSD. 2 setups, best 2 of 8 (Wednesday, New York stop hunt at the high).

What this week teaches about reverse price action

This is the honest version of a high-confluence trade. The M was built on a news release, at the New York open, on a Wednesday, through the previous day's high, and it paid on the day. Then the week kept going and took the level out on Friday. The confirmation that was missing is the one nobody can know in advance: whether the high of the day is also the high of the week. Take what the day offers, and let the weekly chart tell you later what it was.

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 10 August 2026?

By confluence, GBPUSD on Wednesday: an M off the high that scored 7 of 8. It moved 58 pips that day and 71 on the week. Friday traded back through it.

Was there a midweek reversal in the week of 10 August 2026?

Yes, on 3 of the 8 markets we track: EURUSD, NZDUSD and Gold (XAUUSD). The largest was NZDUSD, 77 pips from the low of the week at 0.58209.

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: Gold W formation, week of 3 August 2026
• Next week: USDCAD midweek reversal, week of 17 August 2026
• FOMC stop hunt, week of 14 September 2026: another M formation, on Gold (XAUUSD)
• USDCHF M formation, week of 29 June 2026: another M formation, on USDCHF
• EURUSD stop hunt, week of 28 September 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.