The Wyckoff method is a framework for reading price and volume together to judge where the balance of supply and demand is shifting. Developed by Richard Wyckoff in the early twentieth century, it treats the market as a cycle that repeats across timeframes rather than a series of random moves.
The four-phase cycle
Wyckoff described price as moving through four repeating stages. Large operators accumulate quietly at low prices, drive a markup as demand takes over, then distribute their holdings near highs before a markdown carries price back down. The cycle then begins again at a new level.
- Accumulation: a sideways range where buying absorbs supply.
- Markup: an uptrend as demand overpowers supply.
- Distribution: a sideways range where holdings are sold into strength.
- Markdown: a downtrend as supply overpowers demand.
The method is an interpretation, not a mechanical signal generator. It gives you a story to test against the chart, and that story is only useful when it is confirmed by what price and volume actually do. Real charts are far messier than the tidy diagrams in a textbook.
Wyckoff frames the market as a repeating cycle — accumulation, markup, distribution, markdown — driven by the balance between supply and demand.
Across this course we build from the underlying logic — the composite operator and the three laws — up to reading full ranges and timing entries with springs and upthrusts. No phase resolves the same way every time, so risk management stays essential throughout.