M & W Reversals: the M and W Pattern in Forex, Read Leg by Leg

M & W Reversals are an M off the highs or a W off the lows, from a clear Asian range, in London or New York. The textbooks call them the double top and the double bottom, and most guides call them the M and W pattern. We read the same shape by its legs, and the leg that matters is the second: we read it as a hunt for the stops of whoever traded the first.

What do M & W Reversals look like on a chart?

They have four parts: a first leg out of the Asian Box, a neckline back towards it, a second leg past the first, and the turn. On gold on Thursday 27 August 2026 the box ran from 4593.94 to 4642.53, and Wednesday's low sat under it at 4582.78. On gold $1 counts as 1 pip.

1. First leg, 06:00 New York. To 4568.89, 25 under the box and 14 under Wednesday's low. It is the new low the crowd sells.
2. Neckline, 08:00. Back to 4600.86, 7 inside the box.
3. Second leg, 09:45. To 4564.23, 5 past the first leg: the Stop Hunt, a liquidity sweep of the stops under the first low. It closes at 4572.20, back over the first leg.
4. The turn. To 4617.94 by 15:00, 54 off the low. The day ended at 4600.15.

The M is the same thing upside down. On GBP/USD on Thursday 13 August 2026 the box ran from 1.34742 to 1.35005.

The first leg reached 1.35098 at 09:00, 9 pips over the box. The neckline held at 1.34946 at 09:45, 6 pips inside it. The second leg reached 1.35128 at 10:15, 3 pips past the first, and that candle closed at 1.35039, back under the first leg. By 14:00 price was at 1.34792, 34 pips off the high. Both days gave part of the move back by the close, and we kept them for that: most diagrams show only the clean ones.

M & W Reversals and the M and W pattern in forex: what is different?

The shape is the same and the reading is not. In price action trading guides, the M and W pattern is a double top or double bottom on any chart, confirmed when price breaks the neckline, and a second top that runs past the first has failed. We make two changes.

First, the place. Ours grows out of a clear Asian range in London or New York, because that is where we can name the stops.

Second, the second leg. From the first seat, the second top is a sell with a stop just over the first. From the market maker's seat, those stops are the pool. So the run past the first leg is not the pattern failing. We read it as the pattern.

The neckline shows what the wait costs. On gold, the first close over 4600.86 came on the 11:30 candle, at 4600.97. That was $37 off the low, and the day had $17 more to give.

M pattern forex goes deeper on the searched term, M and W vs double top and bottom compares the names, and gold M and W reversals stays on one market.

How do you spot an M or a W?

You cannot at the first leg, because all it shows is a new high or low of the day. At 09:00 on the pound, 1.35098 was only that. The shape appeared at 10:15, when a second leg traded past it by 3 pips. On gold it appeared at 09:45, by 5. Both were ordinary candles, and the violent version has its own word, Second Leg Climax. Gold's first leg had already gone through Wednesday's low, so that level was spent before the second leg began.

What do traders get wrong about M and W patterns?

Three things cost the crowd most on these days.

• Selling the 09:00 high on the pound. The chart showed a new high and nothing else. The pullback to 09:45 made the sell look right, and the 10:15 candle then traded 3 pips past that high. Gold did the same the other way at 09:45, by 5.
• Seeing the shape everywhere. The guides draw it on any chart. These two came out of an Asian Box, in London or New York, and that is what this word means.
• Reading the letter as a forecast. Both days turned, and both gave part of it back. A shape found afterwards is not a setup, and our own test of the setup as a mechanical rule did not make money.

Which words do M & W Reversals lead into?

Four sit next to them.

• Second Leg Climax: the volatile second leg that hunts the high or low of the day and confirms the M or W.
• High and Low of the Day: the first pool of stops a second leg hunts.
• The Close Back: the spike that closes back inside the level. The sweep has happened.
• The Asian Box: the Asian range drawn on the chart.

Where are M & W Reversals taught?

Course 3 of ForexiaPRO, Reverse Price Action, teaches this read step by step in lesson 3.2.3, M and W Reversals: the Double Top and the Double Bottom.