Markup & Markdown

Markup & Markdown dates the Wyckoff cycle's two trending phases with the confirmation discipline the school demands. Ranges come first, because markup and markdown are only ever entered by leaving one; an exit on widening spread and expanding volume prints SOS or SOW, and the phase confirms once the first reaction holds beyond the old boundary - the back-up for markup, the rally test for markdown. Confirmed phases tint the background; reactions leave stride steps.

How to Trade the Markup & Markdown?

• Markup confirmed: pullbacks toward the stride's rising supports are the continuation play; pauses that keep their gains and resolve upward extend it.
• Markdown confirmed: the mirror - failing rallies at lower highs continue the decline, often faster.
• Character warnings: a broken stride or volume dominance flipping against the phase - the change of behavior that precedes an ending.
• Phase endings: a range resolving against the trend or, optionally, a close through the latest stride step - dated where structure stopped confirming.

The verdict conditions the rest of the Wyckoff-school tools.

Markup & Markdown Settings

• Range Length (default 20): consecutive bars inside the window before a range locks in.
• Volatility Baseline Length (default 200) and Maximum Range Height (xATR) (default 3.5): the compression cap.
• Expansion Baseline Length (default 20), Widening Spread Threshold (default 1.25), Expanding Volume Threshold (default 1.25): qualify an exit as SOS/SOW.
• New Phases Need Expansion (default on): with-trend pause resolutions are exempt.
• Reaction Pivot Length (default 3): legs settling reactions and the stride.
• Volume Character Window (default 20) and Stride Break Ends The Phase (default on).
• Show Dashboard (on, Top Right) plus toggles - background, ranges, stride, labels, SOS/SOW markers, warnings (on), Failed Exit Markers (off).

Frequently Asked Questions

How does this relate to Accumulation vs Distribution Ranges?

Why do phase labels arrive late?

What is the stride?