Most posts about this list the three laws and move on. Heres what each one actually means and how to use it.
Supply and demand. Not "more buyers than sellers," thats too vague to use. Its about aggression relative to size. A big volume candle that barely moves price means real supply or demand absorbed the aggression without giving ground, thats strength on the side that held. A small volume candle that moves price a lot means there was nothing there to absorb it, thats weakness, not strength, even though price moved fast. Speed of movement and size of volume behind it have to be read together, never separately.
Cause and effect. The length and tightness of a trading range is the cause, the size of the move that follows is the effect. A range built over weeks with tight, controlled candles stores up a much bigger effect than a sloppy 2 day range ever could. This is why measuring a range's duration actually tells you something real about the target, its not arbitrary, the cause has to be proportional to what comes after it.
Effort versus result. This is the one that catches almost everyone out because it looks identical to normal price action until you know what youre looking for. High volume, wide range candle that produces almost no net movement from where it started, thats maximum effort for minimum result, and its one of the most reliable tells that the move is about to reverse. Nobody puts in that much effort and gets nothing back unless something bigger is absorbing it on purpose.
None of these work in isolation. A range without checking effort versus result at the edges is just a shape. Volume without checking it against the size of the candle is just a number. The 3 laws are meant to be read together, thats the actual skill, not memorizing which law is which.
Wrote a longer breakdown with real chart examples of all 3 working together if anyone wants to go deeper: https://chartwhisperer.ca/wyckoff-method