Quote from Pekelo:
For last Friday ES:
EST ---- PRIOR DAY ----
VOL SETT VOL INT
1058K 1427.50 1032K 1541K
So the traded volume was about 2/3 of the Open interest. The NQ had a higher turnover, every contract changed hands at least once...
You may want to rethink what you have stated by considering two factors:
1. This is a financial instrument with a purpose.
2. This instrument is traded by people to make money.
I am in category 2 and I am in the market continually and always on the right side of the market. This implies that I take many actions a day.
For the ES, I look at four ranges of volume to determine the market pace.
I also annotate the the volume formations and patterns to know the rate at which I can take money out of the market. This medium frequency assessment leads me to the turning points of price where the nuances of volume and potential allow me to have a vernier for the actions I take to collect profit segments and asur that I am on the right side of he market.
There are ten significant potential volume levels to consider at any particular moment and these are in addition the the actual volume, it's rate of change of time and its rate of acceleration or deceleration.
Of the major two variable of the market, volume is the most informing for making money.
Conventionally most people watch price and bet on it.
Eliminating betting comes as a consequence of considering volume as a market variable.
Examine quants and find how failure to examine volume seriously truncates quant strategies.