Goldberg and Lupercio, two analysts of the online trading industry, estimated that about 40% of all trading volume comes from a group of 50,000 "semi-professional" traders who use the major online brokerage firms. The analysis was for the year 2003.

So a good guess would be 40%.

>>How, with only 10 billion shares outstanding, can XXX be so actively traded at this volume and why would XXX sit at the same price and trade billions of shares, when all press and reports about the company are positive?

The market is at a price consensus or is in a consolidation phase. The bulls and bears are in consensus; no one is more powerful than the other.

You will also find that penny stocks are usually less volatile than bigger value stocks.

>>My take is that someone is deliberately swapping shares, huge chunks at a time, at ridiculously low prices to keep the stock price down? Why go to the expense?

No I doubt anyone would be doing that deliberately. There is no point to such exercise – waste of time and money.

Maybe people who bought earlier at a cheaper price are taking profits and people who are hearing the news are buying in.

Good Luck!

Low volume does not mean poor investment. Just means its not on people radar. There are alot of things to take into consideration like how many shares or outstading or in the float. If there are very few shares then it will not take alot to move the stock up or down. A stock could go up or down 20% on as few as 100 shares traded depending on the size of the float. Also what does the chart look like? Has it been flat for 2 years or is there alot of movement?

Yes, the market tends to dry up around that time. The best trading occurs between 9:30 and 11:00. I trade all day long, but my trades during lunch hours are few. It is already hard enough to make money and doing just during lunch time just appears to hard to do. You can try swing trading, holding for a week or two.

They trade around the clock on weekdays except for every day between 1:15pm to 1:30 pm (pacific time) for a 15 minute maintenance.

There is no trading over the weekends from Friday 1:15 pm until Sunday 3:00 pm (pacific time).

Be aware that volume dies down when the markets stop trading (after 1:00 pm). The bid/ask spread can also increase dramatically (specially on the Nasdaq). Prices can also be pushed up/down rather quickly due to lack of liquidity, so amateurs always get stopped during these times.

Intraday trading is one in which u r buying and selling those shares, dat very day itself, here only your profit or loss will get added in the margin. here u r not talking delivery of shares.

Brokerage(Standard)0.1% of volume
Service tax12.24% of total brokerage
STT 0.025% of the total vol traded-only for sell
Stamp duty0.002% of the total vol
Turnover tax0.0035% of the total vol

Here is where to find daily volume on yahoo finance

http://finance.yahoo.com/marketupdate?u

There is no single indicator to use as a crystal ball for direction. Volume is generally used as a confirming indicator.

I am a stock trader too: American markets and american stocks are very transparent, so it will be easy to find all kind of information that you need online.
finance.yahoo.com is the website that i use the most during the day, i am a daytrader also.
If you need more advice just feel free to contact me.
I hope that you will chose my answer as the best one.
Thanks

Day trading usually refers to an individual who buys and sells stocks (usually his own money) for a living. Day traders usually use trends to predict short term swings in stock price and attempt to get in and out of a stock fast enough to capture the gain of the temporary trend.

An important aspect of day trading is to have a set investing plan. Day traders don't always make a profit on each trade they do during the day but if they keep to their plan (if it’s a good plan) they will be more likely make a profit for the day.

The barriers to becoming a day trader are experience and cash. You need both to succeed in the stock market.

They impact the market in a few ways. First they add volume to the market. They also can increase the speed of spikes. When a day trader sees his stocks tanking he will sell them. This will drive down the price more. Conversely if he sees a stock that is starting to rock he will buy. This will increase the value of that stock.

Yes, the market tends to dry up around that time. The best trading occurs between 9:30 and 11:00. I trade all day long, but my trades during lunch hours are few. It is already hard enough to make money and doing just during lunch time just appears to hard to do. You can try swing trading, holding for a week or two.