It looks like NYSE total volume is still low, and far lower than this year's average or even 2008 or 2007 averages. Today it traded 1.2 billion, but less than 1 billion with 10 min left so I figure the tape must have been painted with some heft after-hours orders. Where did this volume go? Did it go to other exchanges or has buying interest really dropped by ~20%?
a lot of the recent volme was bred by higher leverage ratios- with those coming down across the entire industry, trading was bound to suffer- not to mention any funds that went belly up and/or had huge redemptions. the treasuries have also come down a lot in volume this year relative to last, so the money isn't hiding there.
volume has been dead since the mkt got whacked 40%, any volume is now being taken up by the large caps, the small cap space has been dead for a year now