Ive noticed ER2 tick volumes on the 5 min chart explode over these last 2 days as the market pukes. not uncommon to see 1000+ ticks in 5min this week. i keep an eye on this as usually, from my experience since ive been trading er2 (just over a year now), tick volumes of 1000+ on the 5 min chart usually spell the end of the move - a climax if you like, and i start looking for chances to either reverse or stay out. i dont look to get in as usually the move is over. obviously i havent made much on these last 2 days on the fall (although i did just get my first short on @ 6549 and already taken profit & stop at entry level - probably not much left to the move, but you never know....). the reason being the huge volume has made me think naa its an exhaustion - stay away - clearly ive been so so so wrong! has anyone else noticed these irregularly large volumes? do you think they are here to stay, and i need to find a new threshold level? or are they just a phenomena of this massive move we are seeing? how does this compare to other futures (or other markets) that youve traded as the character changes over time? discuss...... hugs & kisses fred
Fred, I think the increase in volume you are seeing is across the board in stock index futures. For example, those big 5 minute bars in the er2 are showing up as 40-70K contract bars in the es. I think it's a function of the move itself and not something russell specific.
cheers boyplunger - to be honest i havent looked at the others as i dont trade them - so the volume wouldnt mean much to me on a comparative basis as far as tick volume goes though, i am shocked to see that 30m tick volume on er2 is almost the same level as es!! remember this is tick volume here, not contract volume. i would be interested at contract comparisons - but my platform doesnt provide it intraday (futuresource)