Wyckoff had worked on Wall Street for more than 40 years and devoted a lot of time to learning to read what we call "price action" today. He actually did become a successful trader by using his methods and didn't become an author until he'd made his money from speculation. The Wyckoff course wasn't written until a few years before his death. As for why would people seek out guys like Wyckoff instead of modern day traders...I think it's simple. A lot of large traders implore Wyckoff's methods. In fact, there was a time when the Wyckoff course was a closely guarded secret among traders. Today, we have people who give their interpretations of Wyckoff's work but people go back to the original because they wanna hear it straight from the source. Besides, why not learn to read the markets without relying on the technology that we have today? And...contrary to what many people think, the Wyckoff course works even better today...despite people's worries about algorithms, HFTs, quants, etc.
I'm impressed with the digging that you do. Keep up the good work! I might have that, I'll have to look. In the meantime, you might be interested in his book; https://archive.org/details/studiesintaperea00wyckrich/page/88/mode/2up This pdf goes over the basics; https://www.wyckoffanalytics.com/wyckoff-method/
A few days ago, in some thread I don't remember which, @easymon1 posted a chart using specific Wykoff terminology like "jump" and "creek" in the annotations. WHO KNEW!?!? Gems and aha's to ya!
I have a couple books in my collection of wykoff methods, but haven't bothered looking yet. Maybe one day... but I'm not willing to put too much FAITH into it.
Yeah, "jump creek" is a funny notation. Wyckoff Analysis works pretty well on BTC. This analytical method floods twitter when fear is high and BTC is testing support.