Last I checked the Q's were the most traded security in the world by volume and dollar amount. It will continue to be so, and I do play on those, just with QID and QLD.
some quick math on today's data: SPY => vol x price => 276,000,000*83.93 = $23,164,680,000 QQQQ => 124,000,000*32.18 = $3,990,320,000
You might have been thinking of the DotCom era. Yeah, Nasdaq used to be the king once. For the past year, it's been $BKX. LOL!