I haven't posted in a while - haven't been trading this recent rally (from October).. Anyway just came accross this article - dated Monday Feb 2 2004 - http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/040202/financial_cboe_volume_1.html CHICAGO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Volume at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (News - Websites) rose 54 percent in January to the second highest monthly level in history, the CBOE said on Monday. I know this is just CBOE and a lot of volume trades on other exchanges (ISE, etc) but this is most likely an indication of others as well. The latest volume trailed only the March 2000 total of 35,176,764 contracts. Could this be a top indicator? Any thoughts or is this just meaningless information I am posting.
Meaningless, because there has been a TON of index-put buying going on to hedge long stock postions, especially with the volatility being so low.