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Wyckoff accumulation schematic

A labelled sequence describing how a base forms: a selling climax, an automatic rally, secondary tests, a spring, and finally a sign of strength.

The schematic gives names to events inside a base. Price falls into a selling climax on very heavy volume, bounces in an automatic rally that defines the range top, and then tests the low repeatedly on lighter volume. A wyckoff-spring takes out the low briefly before the range resolves upward.

The useful part is the volume logic. Tests of the low on progressively lighter volume suggest sellers are exhausted, which is a real and checkable observation rather than a shape.

The unhelpful part is that the schematic is an idealised drawing. Real bases skip events, repeat them out of order, or fail entirely. Traders who force every range into the schematic end up seeing springs everywhere. Treat the labels as a checklist of things to look for, not a script the market follows.

Related: wyckoff-method, wyckoff-distribution, wyckoff-spring, accumulation, volume-dry-up

See it drawn

Original diagrams for the ideas on this page. Illustrative, not real market data.

A range beside a trendOne chart swinging between a flat floor and ceiling, another stepping upwards inside a pair of sloping lines.Range-boundresistancesupportprice bounces between two levelsTrendingthe trend channelhigher highs and higher lowsA range has two flat edges; a trend has two sloping ones.
Range versus trend. On the left price keeps bouncing between the same floor and ceiling, which is a range. On the right each high and each low is higher than the last, inside a pair of sloping lines called a channel.

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