The creek, jump across the creek and the ice

What it is

The creek is a wavy line joining the rally highs inside an accumulation range, like the bank of a stream that price has to cross. The jump across the creek (JAC) is the sign-of-strength move that breaks through it. A back-up (BU) follows: a pullback to the edge of the creek that should hold above it, often the last point of support.

In distribution, the ice is the matching line under the reaction lows. Breaking through it, often called falling through the ice, is the sign of weakness, and a weak rally back up to the underside of the ice is the last point of supply. The metaphor comes from Robert Evans, one of the later Wyckoff teachers.

How to spot it

• Join the rally highs inside the range: that line is the creek.
• A decisive close above it on rising volume is the jump.

How to use it

• Wait for the back-up after the jump; buy if it holds above the creek on lighter volume.
• Mirror it for shorts below the ice.

Common mistakes

• Drawing the creek as a perfectly flat line; it follows the actual highs.
• Buying the jump itself instead of the back-up.

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