there are far fewer people actually doing any thinking about their investing.

When the pros bemoan the loss of the individual investors, I think that is what they are talking about. Tons of money sits on he sidelines waiting for some of the uncertainty issues to be resolved. So yes, individuals are tiny compared to the big firms.

The volatility you speak of could merely be the market marking time. Short term variations fed by various rumors until a clearer path to the future emerges.

Meanwhile repeated incidents of computerized programs crashing the markets makes people more and more nervous about trusting their funds to a system that seems to have priorities other than top quality, ethical, public service.