Wyckoff phase thinking asks a simple question: is the name being accumulated, marked up, distributed, or marked down? Hand-labeling every session does not scale. MarketXED draws Wyckoff-style phase cues on the same chart you use with scans and the committee so you can orient in seconds. Phases are structure, not prophecy, and not financial advice.

The four campaigns, in plain English

• Accumulation: range compresses, supply is absorbed, volume can dry while price holds. Springs (false breaks lower that reclaim) are the classic tell.
• Markup: price leaves the range with effort; upthrusts on expanding volume are the continuation language, not a guarantee.
• Distribution: supply appears into strength; effort versus result starts to fail on up bars.
• Markdown: the campaign is selling; bounces are often weaker than they look on a one-bar chart.

The live schematic on MarketXED is measured on a practical window (default about 30 days of 15-minute bars) because classical daily textbooks find a lot of Phase A climaxes that never become a full cause. Use the overlay as a map of the last campaign, not a 1930s daily replica.

What the agent actually scores

The Wyckoff seat does not fire a rare all-or-nothing flag. It scores continuously from coil (range versus volatility), accumulation/distribution flow, drying volume, and breakout extension. Confidence tracks whether any of that structure is actually present. A flat, low-confidence Wyckoff vote is information: the chart is marking time, so other seats should carry the day.

Volume-flow (OBV slope) is a sibling read on the same candles. If Wyckoff says accumulation and OBV is still distributing, believe the conflict and size down. The multi-agent committee is built to surface that split instead of hiding it.

How to use phases with a scan

A scanner only nominates names. Phase context tells you whether you are late to markup or early in a range. That changes how aggressive the playbook stop and time stop should feel. A spring in a scanned gainer is a different trade than chasing an extended markup bar that already spent the move just to appear on a gainer list.

Keep analysis on one surface: chart, committee, and universe filters. Jumping to a second platform to “confirm Wyckoff” usually just adds narrative after the fact. If the overlay and the volume band disagree, pass. If they agree and the committee is fractured, you still do not have a mandate to override your account rules.

Limits of the overlay

Phases will misread V-bottoms, one-day news spikes, and thin names where one print is the whole volume story. The schematic can re-anchor when a new climax prints. Treat that as a reason to re-read, not as a broken indicator. Pair the chart with universe scanners so you are not labeling every ticker in the market. Education only; you still take the risk.

Effort versus result on the volume band

A wide up bar on shrinking volume is effort that did not get paid. A narrow down bar on expanding volume can be supply, not “a healthy dip.” MarketXED’s volume and OBV band under price exists so you do not judge phase from wicks alone. If markup labels sit on a tape where OBV is rolling over, treat the label as stale and wait for the schematic to re-anchor rather than arguing with the overlay.

Springs and upthrusts are easy to hallucinate on a 15-minute chart. Require a reclaim back into the prior range (spring) or a failure back into the range (upthrust), not a single wick. If that reclaim happens after your time stop would already have flattened you, it is a lesson for tomorrow’s scan, not a reason to re-enter from the SMS preview.

Worked example: spring after a scan ping

The overlay tags accumulation. Price undercuts the range and reclaims within two 15-minute bars while OBV does not make a new low. That is a spring worth pairing with a playbook stop under the undercut, not a market buy on the reclaim wick. If the reclaim prints after your exit clock, log it as a missed schematic, not a chase. If OBV made a new low on the undercut, it is not a spring. It is markdown wearing a costume.

When the schematic re-anchors after a climax, screenshot the old campaign and the new one. You will see how often Phase A is just a V. That photo album is the antidote to textbook romance. Share it with yourself before you argue that the overlay “missed” a phase it never claimed to freeze in amber.