Lackluster Volume in NYSE and NASDAQ?

[amit1986]

Hi all,

I trade U.S. equities intraday and I have noticed that volume and volatility in the markets for August and this first week of September have been fairly low. Much of the days, markets have been trading in a narrow range with very little up/down movements. I presume August is slow primarily because it is a holiday month and as such, many institutional traders go off on vacations, leaving little volume in the markets. While this has improved slightly over the last few days, things are still fairly flat.

Does anyone have any idea on when volume & volatility should start to pick up?

Thanks all for helping!

 

[N Rothschild]

after labour day

 

[amit1986]

Okay, thanks Roth!

 

[tripleogstar]

lol

 

[Tiger21Invest]

It looks like, on the S&P, as you can see - Sept, Oct is typically higher volume than Aug - as you correctly stated, most on the Street take their vacation during the end of Aug. Also, take into account that volume is lower in bear markets than in bull markets as retail investors trade less.

Numbers in billions:
Aug-09 21.3
Jul-09 22.9
Jun-09 23.9
May-09 25.6
Apr-09 28.7
Mar-09 34.7
Feb-09 26.8
Jan-09 24.7
Dec-08 24.3
Nov-08 25.6
Oct-08 35.7
Sep-08 31.1
Aug-08 18.8
Jul-08 28.8
Jun-08 25.1
May-08 21.7
Apr-08 24.3
Mar-08 29.3
Feb-08 26.7
Jan-08 35.8
Dec-07 21.5
Nov-07 29.2
Oct-07 25.3
Sep-07 21.9
Aug-07 34.2
Jul-07 28.6
Jun-07 27.5
May-07 26.9
Apr-07 25.3
Mar-07 29.3
Feb-07 22.9
Jan-07 26.5
Dec-06 21.9
Nov-06 25.4
Oct-06 28.4
Sep-06 25.5
Aug-06 26.4
Jul-06 29.8
Jun-06 34.3
May-06 35.7
Apr-06 29.5
Mar-06 35
Feb-06 28.8
Jan-06 31
Dec-05 24.6
Nov-05 27
Oct-05 29.5
Sep-05 27.1
Aug-05 25.1
Jul-05 23.6
Jun-05 25.7
May-05 25.4
Apr-05 29.1

 

[amit1986]

Thanks for those numbers Tiger21Invest!

It seems volume seems to drop significantly during December (possibly due to Christmas and New Years celebrations and festivities that lead to vacations)!

 

[Tiger21Invest]

Correct, plus there is a certain amount of window dressing at year end because fund managers have to report their holdings at year end and don't want to look like they missed the boat. Performance is also based on year end performance, so that could impact trading volumes - locking in gains, etc.

 

[amit1986]

Very good point!