# Wyckoff Distribution Schematic Also known as: PSY, BC, AR, ST, SOW, LPSY, the ice. A Wyckoff concept (Distribution schematic) in the LuxAlgo Library, with 1 indicator implementation. ## What is the Wyckoff Distribution Schematic? The Wyckoff Distribution Schematic is the mirror of the [Wyckoff Accumulation Schematic](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/wyckoff-accumulation-schematic/): the idealized map of how an uptrend is ended and a markdown prepared. Phase A stops the advance: preliminary supply (PSY), a buying climax (BC), an automatic reaction (AR), and a secondary test (ST) define the range. Phase B builds the cause, typically with failing pushes at the highs ([upthrusts](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/upthrust/)). Phase C often ends with an upthrust after distribution (UTAD), a final probe above resistance that fails. Phase D turns the range heavy: signs of weakness (SOW) break toward support on expanding volume, and last points of supply (LPSY) form as weak rallies. Phase E is markdown. Like its bullish counterpart, the schematic grew out of the [Wyckoff Method](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/wyckoff-method/), Richard D. Wyckoff's early twentieth-century framework for reading the campaigns of large operators through price, volume, and the composite-operator premise. The specific labeled diagrams, and teaching imagery such as the ice, come from the course as taught after his death, notably by Robert G. Evans, whose creek-and-ice stories gave the events their folk names. The acronym set (PSY, BC, AR, ST, SOW, LPSY, UTAD) is the modern standardization of that teaching. In the older Wyckoff teaching story, the range's support is nicknamed the ice: a sign of weakness that falls through the ice, followed by a feeble rally back to its underside, is the classic prelude to markdown. As with accumulation, the schematic is a sequence to recognize, not a script. Distribution and re-accumulation can look alike for most of a range, so phase C and D behavior, meaning failed upthrusts, weak rallies, and expanding down-volume, carries most of the diagnostic weight. The diagnostic engine is the same [effort vs result](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/effort-vs-result/) logic that governs accumulation, run in reverse. Heavy volume at the highs that produces no upside progress marks supply overcoming demand; rallies that narrow in spread and shrink in volume show demand withdrawing; and the UTAD is the mirror of the [spring](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/spring/), a stop-running probe that proves the other side is absent. Cause and effect applies as well: the width and duration of the range traditionally set point-and-figure objectives for the markdown that follows. ## How to identify Wyckoff distribution on a chart Label events only after the reactions that define them, and keep the re-accumulation alternative alive until the range shows real weakness. 1. Start from a mature uptrend and find phase A: preliminary supply where heavy selling first checks the advance, a buying climax on wide spread and very heavy volume, the automatic reaction that follows, and a secondary test of the climax high on narrower spread and lighter volume. 2. Frame the range with the BC high and AR low, then track phase B: repeated failing pushes at or above resistance while down-swings begin to carry more volume than the rallies between them. 3. Watch phase C for a UTAD: a final push above the range highs that fails to hold and closes back inside, often followed by its own weak test. 4. Demand phase D evidence: a sign of weakness that breaks mid-range support or the ice on expanding spread and volume, then LPSY rallies that stall below broken levels on dull volume. 5. Grade every rally with volume: distribution is confirmed by rallies that keep shrinking, and contradicted by pullbacks that dry up while price holds, the signature of [absorption](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/absorption/) and re-accumulation. ## How traders use it - As a phase locator: label PSY, BC, AR, and ST to frame the range, then watch whether rallies keep failing at or above resistance while down-swings gain volume. - As an entry framework: the classic shorts are the UTAD in phase C and the LPSY rallies in phase D, with stops above the relevant high and a sign of weakness as confirmation. - As protection against premature reads: mid-range, distribution resembles re-accumulation, so Wyckoff practice withholds the bearish label until the range actually produces signs of weakness and failing rallies. - For exit management on longs: the phase A and B signatures, climactic volume followed by failing pushes and heavier down-swings, are commonly used to scale out or tighten stops well before any short is considered. - For target estimation: point-and-figure counts across the completed range traditionally project markdown objectives, treated as rough guides rather than promises. - With wave measurement: [Wyckoff Wave & Volume Studies](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/wyckoff-wave-and-volume-studies/) put numbers on the rally-versus-decline comparison that the schematic otherwise reads by eye. ## Wyckoff distribution vs. related Wyckoff concepts - **Wyckoff Accumulation Schematic** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/wyckoff-accumulation-schematic/): The mirror: accumulation maps the end of a downtrend with a selling climax and spring where distribution has a buying climax and UTAD. The vocabularies correspond event for event, and mid-range the two structures are notoriously hard to tell apart. - **Wyckoff Method** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/wyckoff-method/): The parent framework: the three laws and the composite-operator premise. The distribution schematic is the method applied to one situation, the topping of an uptrend and the preparation of markdown. - **Upthrust** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/upthrust/): The component event: an upthrust is any failed probe above range resistance and is common through phase B, while the UTAD is the terminal phase C version that sets up markdown. The schematic gives the single event its context. ## FAQ ### What are the phases of Wyckoff distribution? Phase A stops the uptrend with preliminary supply, a buying climax, an automatic reaction, and a secondary test. Phase B builds the cause with range swings and upthrusts at the highs. Phase C often prints a UTAD, a final failed push above resistance, though not every range has one. Phase D delivers signs of weakness and last points of supply. Phase E is markdown. Labels stay provisional until the breakdown confirms them. ### What does 'the ice' mean in Wyckoff analysis? The ice is the informal name for the support of a distribution trading range, from a classic Wyckoff-course teaching story that pictures the range's support as a sheet of ice. Price falling through the ice is a sign of weakness, and the feeble rally back to the underside of the ice that fails is the last point of supply, the textbook place shorts look to enter before markdown. ### What is a UTAD in Wyckoff distribution? An upthrust after distribution: a phase C move above the range highs that attracts breakout buying and promptly fails, closing back inside the range. It is the bearish counterpart of the spring, a final test proving demand cannot hold price above resistance. Not every distribution range prints one; some top out with lower-high tests instead. ### How is distribution different from re-accumulation? Structurally they can be identical for most of the range, which is why the framework withholds judgment until phases C and D. Distribution shows failing upthrusts, rallies losing volume, and signs of weakness through support; re-accumulation shows pullbacks drying up and support holding. The prior trend does not settle it, since both structures form after advances. ### Is a buying climax always the end of the uptrend? No. A buying climax stops the advance and starts a range, but the range can resolve either way; if it proves to be re-accumulation, the trend resumes. The climax is phase A evidence that large selling met the market, not a standalone top signal. What follows in phases B through D determines the outcome. ### What is the difference between an upthrust and a UTAD? Position and consequence. An upthrust is any failed push above resistance and can occur repeatedly through phase B. The UTAD is the phase C event, the last such failure before the range turns down, typically followed by a test on lighter volume. The labels are assigned in hindsight once the breakdown confirms them. ### Can Wyckoff distribution be traded intraday? Yes, the sequence is fractal and intraday practitioners apply the same event logic to ranges lasting hours. The caveats scale down with it: fewer bars mean noisier volume evidence, session opens and news can fake climactic prints, and intraday ranges resolve against the higher-timeframe trend less reliably. Reading the larger structure first is standard practice. ## Implementations in the Library - Wyckoff Distribution Schematic (LuxAlgo): https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/wyckoff-distribution-schematic/ ## Related concepts - Upthrust: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/upthrust/ - Upthrust After Distribution: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/upthrust-after-distribution/ - Markup & Markdown: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/markup-and-markdown/ --- Source: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/wyckoff-distribution-schematic/ (LuxAlgo Library, the encyclopedia of trading & technical analysis). Free to use with attribution: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/license/