I like volume. Volume = tighter spreads which results in better entries and exits. I also like trailing a stop higher on runners with a stop market order because once my stop hits, I want out. However, if you try to do this in a thinly traded stock, what often can happen is that your order will fill quite a bit lower than your stop activation price. Not good, but at least you're out. Worse, if you try to enter a stop limit order, the market can jump your order. Meaning, the stop activation will trigger, but the sale can't execute because now the prices are much lower than your limit order. Worse than that, you might erroneously think that your order got filled because you got a handy alert that said your stop was hit via email or text. All of this nonsense has happened to me and I'm sure quite a few other people, too. To sum up, I like volume and avoid thinly traded issues like a plague.
Lately, I've noticed that the volume in some ETFs that I used to trade is woefully inadequate for my needs (e.g., IWC) and even some of the high volume ETFs have much less volume than they used to. Take the Q's, for example, QQQ busted out over 70 but the volume is about 10% of the 2008 plunges. It should be easy to tell when a real correction (5+%) is upon us as volume will rip higher (at least double these anemic levels).
Here's the chart:
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