USDCAD Midweek Reversal: Forex Chart Markups, 17 August 2026

The USDCAD midweek reversal of 18 August 2026 started from a Tuesday high at 1.39099 and ran 178 pips to Friday's low at 1.37318, where a W formation at the New York open ended the move. Gold, GBPUSD, AUDUSD and NZDUSD also turned midweek, with gold reversing 308 pips from Wednesday's low. The week produced 8 textbook setups, 3 partials and five 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: 8 textbook and 3 partial.
• Weekly cycle: 5 of 8 markets turned midweek (GBPUSD, AUDUSD, USDCAD, NZDUSD and XAUUSD).
• Setup of the week: USDCAD on Friday, W formation, 5 of 8 on confluence: 45 pips that day, 45 on the week.
• News in sync with a stop hunt: CAD BoC Consumer Price Index Core (YoY), CAD Consumer Price Index (YoY).

USDCAD midweek reversal: 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. USDCAD 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.

Gold (XAUUSD) · 308-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 4323.93 in Wednesday's session (Tuesday 21:00 New York), and the reversal ran 308 pips to 4631.94 by Friday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Tue ranged instead of trending.

USDCAD · 178-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 1.39099 on Tuesday 14:30 New York, and the reversal ran 178 pips to 1.37318 by Friday. 2 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Mon ranged instead of trending.

AUDUSD · 113-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 0.70665 on Wednesday 00:45 New York, and the reversal ran 113 pips to 0.71799 by Friday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Tue ranged instead of trending.

GBPUSD · 156-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 1.35194 on Tuesday 03:15 New York, and the reversal ran 156 pips to 1.36755 by Friday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Mon ranged instead of trending.

NZDUSD · 127-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 0.58601 in Wednesday's session (Tuesday 21:00 New York), and the reversal ran 127 pips to 0.59876 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, USDJPY and USDCHF: 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: USDCAD W formation, 21 August 2026

USDCAD spent the Asian session in a 29-pip range between 1.37583 and 1.37871. London then broke the low of that range by 24 pips, to 1.37345 at 06:45 New York, taking Thursday's low (1.37553) on the way: the breakdown the crowd sells. Price pulled back to a neckline at 1.37434, then ran a second leg to 1.37318 at 08:00 New York, 3 pips past the first leg. 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 45 pips to 1.37772 in 2h 45m, 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, 1.37583: taken by the first leg.
• Stops below Thursday's low, 1.37553: taken by the first leg.
• Sellers' stops above the neckline, 1.37434: taken as the reversal broke it.
• Sellers' stops above the Asian high, 1.37871: not reached.

The trade. The method buys against the breakout, on the second leg at the low of the day (1.37318). The stricter trigger, the first 15-minute close back inside, came with 9 pips of risk to the extreme and 36 pips to the high of the day, about 1 to 4.0. 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: 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 GBPUSD, see GBPUSD midweek reversal, week of 6 July 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 · EURUSD · M formation (43 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 1.16141 (04:30 New York); price reversed 43 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 2 of 8. Wednesday traded back through it.

Monday · USDCHF · W formation (45 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 0.80717 (04:30 New York); price reversed 45 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 2 of 8. Wednesday traded back through it.

Monday · USDCAD · W formation (33 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 1.38443 (10:15 New York); price reversed 33 pips, through the whole Asian range. High-impact news in the same candle: CAD BoC Consumer Price Index Core (YoY), CAD Consumer Price Index (YoY). Confluence 1 of 8. Wednesday traded back through it.

Tuesday · AUDUSD · New York stop hunt (37 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 0.71195 (09:30 New York); price reversed 37 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 4 of 8. Wednesday traded back through it.

Thursday · Gold (XAUUSD) · New York stop hunt (90 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 4450.36 (08:00 New York); price reversed 90 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 1 of 8. The low held for the rest of the week.

Friday · EURUSD · London stop hunt (43 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 1.17115 (05:00 New York, 1 pips through Thursday's high); price reversed 43 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 3 of 8. It was the high of the week.

Friday · GBPUSD · Both sides hunted (57 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 1.36755 (05:00 New York, 16 pips through Thursday's high); price reversed 57 pips, through the whole Asian range. Then the other side was hunted at 10:30 New York, 5 pips under the Asian low. Confluence 3 of 8. It was the high of the week.

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 · GBPUSD · London stop hunt (36 pips). London took the stops above the Asian high at 1.35710 (03:30 New York, 9 pips through Friday's high); price reversed 36 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 3 of 8. Wednesday traded back through it.

Thursday · USDCAD · W formation (40 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 1.37553 (06:15 New York); price reversed 40 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 2 of 8. Friday traded back through it.

Friday · USDJPY · W formation (70 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 158.354 (05:00 New York); price reversed 70 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. 2 setups, best 3 of 8 (Friday, London stop hunt at the high). No midweek reversal.

GBPUSD. 3 setups, best 3 of 8 (Friday, London stop hunt at the high).

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

USDCHF. 1 setup, best 2 of 8 (Monday, W off the low). No midweek reversal.

AUDUSD. 1 setup, best 4 of 8 (Tuesday, New York stop hunt at the high).

USDCAD. 3 setups, best 5 of 8 (Friday, W off the low).

Gold (XAUUSD). 1 setup, best 1 of 8 (Thursday, New York stop hunt at the low).

What this week teaches about reverse price action

The same week shows the cycle from both ends. Tuesday's high on USDCAD was the trap: a 32-pip run above Monday's high that pulled in breakout buyers. Friday's W at the low was the mirror image, taking the stops of everyone who had sold the reversal late. One level takes the buyers, the other takes the sellers, and the range between them is the week. Reading price action in reverse means asking, at every extreme, who just got trapped and where their stops are now.

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 17 August 2026?

By confluence, USDCAD on Friday: a W off the low that scored 5 of 8. It moved 45 pips that day and 45 on the week. It was the low of the week.

Was there a midweek reversal in the week of 17 August 2026?

Yes, on 5 of the 8 markets we track: GBPUSD, AUDUSD, USDCAD, NZDUSD and Gold (XAUUSD). The largest was Gold (XAUUSD), 308 pips from the low of the week at 4323.93.

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.

How is the confluence score worked out?

Each daily setup gets one point for each of eight confirmations: a clear Asian range, a second-leg stop hunt, the hunt at a session open, taking the previous day's high or low, high-impact news in sync, forming on Tuesday or Wednesday, being the high or low of the week, and price being induced into it from the week's open.

Related chart markups

• Previous week: GBPUSD M formation, week of 10 August 2026
• Next week: AUDUSD stop hunt, week of 24 August 2026
• GBPUSD midweek reversal, week of 6 July 2026: another W formation, on GBPUSD
• EURUSD midweek reversal, week of 22 June 2026: another W formation, on EURUSD
• USDCAD W formation, week of 8 June 2026: the same W formation on USDCAD
• 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.