Have you noticed the difference now that the dow futures have gained relevance? In my opinion the arbs have destroyed it.
Weirdly when the Dow opened as a pit contract in the fall of 1997 it ushered in huge volatility. However it does seem that the proliferation of electronically traded index derivatives has dampened movement in the corresponding products, YM included. This too will pass. In my experience, the relationship between volume/liquidity and volatility is tenuous.
I pray every single day for the demise of the dow futures contract or the arbs getting blown up. Most of the guys who used to trade the equity contracts are gone and have been replaced by the black box and the prop shop trader. I yearn for the good old days. Finally got around to opening a new account for interest rate products.
YM will never trade more than 15% or so of the S&P volume. Few if any managers bogie's are versus the Dow and with only 30 stocks it's too narrow for much institutional notice. It does from time to time, provide hedge funds with spread possibilities against other indices though.
I don't understand what difference that makes. If you don't care enought that you would want it to dissapear, than why worry about what it does after hours or not? In other words, pretend it has already disappeared. nitro