Volume pattern has always been tied closely to chart analysis in both the stock and tures markets. It is a valuable piece of information that is not often used. and one Vof the few items, other than price, that is traditionally considered valid data for the technician. Nevertheless, there has been little research published that relates this factor to futures markets; its popular use has adopted the same conclusions as in stock market analysts.
The stock and futures markets have two other measures of participation that are related, yet not the same. In equities, the large number of shares being traded allow for measurements of breadth. in the same way that the stock index has become a popular measure of overall market trend, the breadth of the market is the total number of stocks that have risen or fallen during a specific period. When you have the ability to view the bigger picture of market movement, breadth seems to be the natural adjunct to the index.
In futures, open interest is the measurement of those participants with outstanding trades; it is the netting out of all open positions in any one market or contract. and it gives an understanding of the depth of volume that is possible. A market that trades only 10.000 contracts per day, but has an open interest of 250,000, is telling the trader that there are many participants who will enter the market when the price is right. These are most likely to be commercial traders, using the futures markets for hedging.