Quote from efficiency:
Can't pass this one up, Mister Ross. Not sure what timeframe you're referring to. You use the word contracts, but contracts have underlying elements.
In a capitulation move, yes high volume would suggest strong hands. NYSE specialist and how he acquires dirt cheap inventory quickly comes to mind, but in general:
High volume = public
Public = weak hands.
As you know or should know , an NYSE specialist, since 1949, can and do establish (and unwind) tax-segregated omnibus accounts, exempt from Regs T and U aside from their day in day out perpetual trading accounts toward their "duty" of maintaining fair and orderly markets.
Any sharp fast intra-day moves south is the specialist racing to cover his short with minimal public participation.
Conversely, IF he wants volume, he induces it. Opening gap with a pithy little news alibi is ideal.
And............where (or should I say who), do headfakes come from?
In contrast, an omnibus can take years (of volume) to establish and a lesser number of years to distribute. KO and DIS come to mind. Might even be the case for AAPL (no specialist but a MM).
Volume does indeed keep a spread tighter than it otherwise probably would and volume satisfies the primal instinct of safety in numbers/being WITH the crowd, but other than that, the only volume that truly counts is YOURS.
You transact in PRICE.
NYSE specialist doesn't have that much importance in 2009 hybrid markets.