USDCAD Stop Hunt: Forex Chart Markups, 20 April 2026

The USDCAD stop hunt on Tuesday 21 April 2026 took the stops under Monday's low by 3 pips at 10:30 New York, printed the low of the week at 1.36312, and reversed 83 pips by Thursday. It was one of four weekly cycles we marked up this week, alongside EURUSD, NZDUSD and gold, plus 6 textbook daily setups and 1 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: 6 textbook and 1 partial.
• Weekly cycle: 4 of 8 markets turned midweek (EURUSD, USDCAD, NZDUSD and XAUUSD).
• Setup of the week: USDCAD on Tuesday, New York stop hunt, 5 of 8 on confluence: 45 pips that day, 83 on the week.

USDCAD stop hunt: 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. 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.

EURUSD · 122-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 1.17908 in Tuesday's session (Monday 19:00 New York), and the reversal ran 122 pips to 1.16691 by Thursday. 4 of 4 textbook checks held.

USDCAD · 83-pip reversal. The trap printed the low of the week at 1.36312 on Tuesday 10:30 New York, and the reversal ran 83 pips to 1.37140 by Thursday. 4 of 4 textbook checks held.

NZDUSD · 83-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 0.59224 on Wednesday 04:00 New York, and the reversal ran 83 pips to 0.58398 by Friday. 4 of 4 textbook checks held.

Gold (XAUUSD) · 175-pip reversal. The trap printed the high of the week at 4832.85 in Tuesday's session (Monday 18:15 New York), and the reversal ran 175 pips to 4657.48 by Friday. 3 of 4 textbook checks held; the miss: no induction trend, Sun to Mon ranged instead of trending.

No weekly cycle chart for GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF and AUDUSD: 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 New York stop hunt, 21 April 2026

USDCAD spent the Asian session in a 14-pip range between 1.36371 and 1.36514. New York then pushed 6 pips past the Asian low, to 1.36312 at 10:30 New York and 3 pips through Monday's low (1.36346): the breakdown the crowd sells. There was no first leg and neckline beyond the range, so this is a plain stop hunt of the Asian range, not an M or a W. Price did not continue. It reversed 45 pips to 1.36766 in 2h 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

• Buyers' stops below the Asian low, 1.36371: taken by the stop hunt.
• Stops below Monday's low, 1.36346: taken by the stop hunt.
• Sellers' stops above the Asian high, 1.36514: taken as the reversal cleared the range.

The trade. The method buys against the breakout, on the stop hunt past the Asian low (1.36312). The stricter trigger, the first 15-minute close back inside, came with 18 pips of risk to the extreme and 28 pips to the high of the day, about 1 to 1.6. 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 clear Asian range, the previous day's level taken, a Tuesday or Wednesday date, the high or low of the week and induction from the week's open. Missing: a second-leg stop hunt, a hunt at a session open and high-impact news in sync. It is the low of the week.

The mindset behind fading a breakout is in How to Read a Forex Chart Markup. For the same stop hunt on USDCAD, see USDCAD M formation, week of 25 May 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 · AUDUSD · New York stop hunt (56 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 0.71854 (10:30 New York); price reversed 56 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 3 of 8. It was the high of the week.

Wednesday · USDCAD · London stop hunt (32 pips). London took the stops below the Asian low at 1.36428 (04:15 New York); price reversed 32 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 4 of 8. The low held for the rest of the week.

Thursday · EURUSD · New York stop hunt (47 pips). New York took the stops above the Asian high at 1.17164 (10:45 New York); price reversed 47 pips, through the whole Asian range. Confluence 1 of 8. Friday traded back through it.

Thursday · GBPUSD · Both sides hunted (71 pips). The second leg took the stops above the first leg at 1.35179 (10:45 New York); price reversed 71 pips, through the whole Asian range. Then the other side was hunted at 13:45 New York, 31 pips under the Asian low. Confluence 2 of 8. Friday traded back through it.

Thursday · USDCHF · Both sides hunted (41 pips). New York took the stops below the Asian low at 0.78317 (10:45 New York); price reversed 41 pips, through the whole Asian range. Then the other side was hunted at 13:45 New York, 15 pips above the Asian high. Confluence 1 of 8. The low held for the rest 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.

Thursday · AUDUSD · W formation (39 pips). The second leg took the stops below the first leg at 0.71106 (13:45 New York); price reversed 39 pips, back inside the Asian range. Confluence 3 of 8. It was the low 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 1 of 8 (Thursday, New York stop hunt at the high).

GBPUSD. 2 setups, best 3 of 8 (Thursday, W off the low). No midweek reversal.

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

AUDUSD. 2 setups, best 3 of 8 (Tuesday, New York stop hunt at the high). No midweek reversal.

USDCAD. 2 setups, best 5 of 8 (Tuesday, New York stop hunt at the low).

What this week teaches about reverse price action

The induction did its job on Monday. USDCAD drifted lower, sellers got comfortable, and late buyers parked their stops under Monday's low. Tuesday's New York session pushed 3 pips under that low and stopped. That is what a stop hunt looks like inside the weekly cycle: a small break of an obvious level, in an active session, followed by a move that erases the whole induction. The size of the break matters less than what sits behind the level.

Frequently asked questions

What was the best forex setup in the week of 20 April 2026?

By confluence, USDCAD on Tuesday: a New York stop hunt at the low that scored 5 of 8. It moved 45 pips that day and 83 on the week. It was the low of the week.

Was there a midweek reversal in the week of 20 April 2026?

Yes, on 4 of the 8 markets we track: EURUSD, USDCAD, NZDUSD and Gold (XAUUSD). The largest was EURUSD, 122 pips from the high of the week at 1.17908.

What is a stop hunt in forex?

A stop hunt is a push through an obvious high or low, where retail stop losses and breakout orders are clustered, followed by a reversal. The push triggers the stops and fills the breakout traders in the same moment, and that burst of orders is the liquidity larger players need.

Where do retail traders put their stop losses?

Where they are taught to: just above the most recent high when selling, and just below the most recent low when buying. That puts them at the edges of the Asian range, beyond the previous day's high and low, and beyond the first leg of a pattern.

Related chart markups

• Previous week: EURUSD M formation, week of 13 April 2026
• Next week: USDCAD BoC stop hunt, week of 27 April 2026
• USDCAD M formation, week of 25 May 2026: the same stop hunt on USDCAD
• USDJPY stop hunt, week of 6 April 2026: another stop hunt, on USDJPY
• GBPUSD stop hunt, week of 20 July 2026: another stop hunt, 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.