Legendary technician Richard Wyckoff wrote about financial markets at the same time as

did Charles Dow, Jesse Livermore, and other iconic figures in the early decades of the 20th
century. His pioneering approach to technical analysis has survived into the modern era,
guiding traders and investors on the best ways to pick winning stocks, the most
advantageous times to buy them, and the most effective risk management techniques.

His observations on price action coalesced into the Wyckoff Market Cycle that outlines key
elements in trend development, marked by periods of accumulation and distribution. Four
distinct phases comprise the cycle: accumulation, markup, distribution, and markdown. He
also outlined sets of rules to use in conjunction with the phases, to further identify the
location of price within the broad spectrum of uptrends, downtrends, and sideways
markets.