Although the s&p 500 index continues to reach new highs, the volume fails to keep up with this momentum. On the contrary, the low trading volume seems as if no one is participating in the market, even as the earnings season begins, and the presidential election is approaching. Over the past few trading days, the trading volume of s&p 500 index futures has remained below the mid-term average level. On Monday, the volume dropped below 1 million contracts for the first time since July. The 5-day average trading volume is now about 50% lower than the 100-day average volume. Such low trading volume levels are historically rare, typically only occurring in the last few days of the year or around major holidays. Although previous US presidential elections have tended to make the market relatively calm (with lower volumes in 2020 and 2016), the volume at that time did not plummet as it does now.