Gold W Formation: Forex Chart Markups, 3 August 2026

A gold W formation on Monday 3 August 2026 printed the low of the week at 4018.91 at 09:30 New York. On the day it was only a partial, worth 39 pips at 1 pip = $1. Over the week, price ran 353 pips from that low without trading back through it. In a quiet week we marked up 4 textbook setups, 4 partials and a single weekly cycle, on USDCAD.

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: 4 textbook and 4 partial.
• Weekly cycle: 1 of 8 markets turned midweek (USDCAD).
• Setup of the week: Gold (XAUUSD) on Monday, W formation, 5 of 8 on confluence: 39 pips that day, 353 on the week.

Gold W formation: 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. Gold (XAUUSD) leads with 5 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 · 155-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 1.40799 on Tuesday 12:30 New York, and the reversal ran 155 pips to 1.39252 by Friday. 4 of 4 textbook checks held.

No weekly cycle chart for EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, AUDUSD, NZDUSD 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) W formation, 3 August 2026

XAUUSD spent the Asian session in a 35-pip range between 4047.09 and 4081.93. New York then broke the low of that range by 5 pips, to 4042.01 at 08:30 New York: the breakdown the crowd sells. Price pulled back to a neckline at 4053.43, then ran a second leg to 4018.91 at 09:30 New York, 23 pips past the first leg and 2 pips through Friday's low (4020.55). 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 39 pips to 4058.01 in 7h, 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, 4047.09: taken by the first leg.
• Stops below Friday's low, 4020.55: taken by the second leg.
• Sellers' stops above the neckline, 4053.43: taken as the reversal broke it.
• Sellers' stops above the Asian high, 4081.93: not reached.

The trade. The method buys against the breakout, on the second leg at the low of the day (4018.91). The stricter trigger, the first 15-minute close back inside, came with 24 pips of risk to the extreme and 15 pips to the high of the day, about 1 to 0.6. 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: 5 of 8. It had a second-leg stop hunt, 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. Missing: a clear Asian range, high-impact news in sync and 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 another W formation, on USDCAD, see USDCAD midweek reversal, week of 17 August 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 · USDCAD · London stop hunt (45 pips). London took the stops below the Asian low at 1.40348 (05:15 New York); price reversed 45 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 1 of 8. Wednesday traded back through it.

Wednesday · USDCHF · London stop hunt (38 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 0.81012 (04:45 New York); price reversed 38 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 2 of 8. Thursday traded back through it.

Thursday · USDCAD · Both sides hunted (47 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 1.39901 (08:00 New York); price reversed 47 pips, through the whole Asian range. Then the other side was hunted at 11:30 New York, 20 pips above the Asian high. Confluence 3 of 8. Friday traded back through it.

Thursday · GBPUSD · New York stop hunt (31 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 1.34790 (09:45 New York); price reversed 31 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 2 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 · USDJPY · London stop hunt (74 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 157.957 (05:45 New York, 7 pips through Monday's high); price reversed 74 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 3 of 8. Thursday traded back through it.

Wednesday · USDJPY · London stop hunt (56 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 157.874 (04:45 New York); price reversed 56 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 3 of 8. Thursday traded back through it.

Wednesday · NZDUSD · W formation (33 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 0.58594 (05:00 New York); price reversed 33 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.

GBPUSD. 1 setup, best 2 of 8 (Thursday, New York stop hunt at the high). No midweek reversal.

USDJPY. 2 setups, best 3 of 8 (Tuesday, London stop hunt at the high). No midweek reversal.

USDCHF. 1 setup, best 2 of 8 (Wednesday, London stop hunt at the high). No midweek reversal.

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

NZDUSD. 1 setup, best 3 of 8 (Wednesday, W off the low). No midweek reversal.

Gold (XAUUSD). 1 setup, best 5 of 8 (Monday, W off the low). No midweek reversal.

What this week teaches about reverse price action

Graded on the day, Monday's W was a partial: the reversal stalled inside the Asian range. Graded on the week, it was the best level on the board. Both readings are true, and the difference is why we separate the daily grade from the weekly outcome. A second-leg stop hunt at a low tells you the stops under the low have been taken and new sellers are trapped. How far price travels afterwards depends on what the rest of the week needs, and on Monday nobody knows that yet.

Frequently asked questions

What was the best forex setup in the week of 3 August 2026?

By confluence, Gold (XAUUSD) on Monday: a W off the low that scored 5 of 8. It moved 39 pips that day and 353 on the week. It was the low of the week.

Was there a midweek reversal in the week of 3 August 2026?

Yes, on 1 of the 8 markets we track: USDCAD. The largest was USDCAD, 155 pips from the high of the week at 1.40799.

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.

What is reverse price action?

Reverse price action is reading a chart from the other side of the trade. Retail traders are taught the same rules, so their stops and breakout orders sit at predictable prices. Instead of following the textbook signal, you ask who is about to be trapped by it and where their stops are.

Related chart markups

• Previous week: USDJPY midweek reversal, week of 27 July 2026
• Next week: GBPUSD M formation, week of 10 August 2026
• USDCAD midweek reversal, week of 17 August 2026: another W formation, on USDCAD
• USDJPY W formation, week of 13 July 2026: another W formation, on USDJPY
• GBPUSD midweek reversal, week of 6 July 2026: another W formation, on GBPUSD
• 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.