I think there's way too much emphasis on volume here. Sure, if price swings wildly, there will be a large volume associated with it, but if there's a large spik

I think there's way too much emphasis on volume here. Sure, if price swings wildly, there will be a large volume associated with it, but if there's a large spike in volume it doesn't necessarily mean a big change in price. So ultimately volume is a measure of interest, but for every bought share there was a sold share, so it's not a measure of performance. I would bet that higher volumes might mean lower bid/ask spreads, meaning you're paying a smaller penalty to get in/out of a position, but for most retail traders that spread isn't going to make or break you anyway.