Phase A (Accumulation)
Volume Price Analysis glossary · Wyckoff'S Laws & The Four Market Phases
Definition
The first phase of Wyckoff accumulation: the prior downtrend stops via Preliminary Support (PS) and Selling Climax (SC), followed by an Automatic Rally (AR) and Secondary Test (ST) of the lows.
Phase A (Accumulation) in plain English
Imagine a stock has been falling for a while, and big professional buyers (the 'smart money') secretly want to buy cheap without spooking everyone. Wyckoff's Phase A is the moment their quiet buying first shows up and the fall runs out of steam. It has a few beats: Preliminary Support (early buying that briefly slows the drop), the Selling Climax (a panicky, high-volume flush where scared sellers dump everything at once — often the low), then an Automatic Rally (a quick bounce because the selling pressure vanished), and a Secondary Test (price drifts back down to check whether the lows really will hold). In plain terms, Phase A is where a downtrend stops and the market goes from 'falling' to 'flat.'
Also called: Accumulation
Practice Phase A (Accumulation)
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