Volume isn't just lower compared to post-crash, but also before that:
That's probably because of the recent incidents with regulations. Many people are waiting until that is cleared up before they can confidently trade again on Gox. Until then the volume will stay extremely low, with short increases in volume during price changes.
Wishful thinking, bull.
A more likely scenario is that speculators consider the price too high (potential reward greatly outweighed by risk at the moment), stubborn miners in a more competitive environment are holding positions, stubborn sellers are not willing to go lower than their entry point and there is a much reduced flow of money into Gox. Unlikely that the regulations are primarily responsible for widespread panic or reluctance to buy in. It is true that the regulations make it more difficult to get money into Gox, but generally only for the criminal-minded. If you have nothing to hide, it is still easy to get money into gox, for example via wire.
I would entertain the possibility that recent regulations have scared away a small minority of criminals who were using bitcoin for money laundering. If this minority was responsible for most of the previous volume and are now absent, then I'd bet on a long, drawn-out downturn.
Look in the mirror, who is wishful thinking now? I'm not really bullish nor bearish on the short term, it depends on how this whole regulation issue gets resolved. If it gets resolved in a good way that fully legitimizes the bitcoin exchange then yes I'm very bullish. I do feel that we're going to move up a little after the current period of consolidation, but it will be a relatively small and hesitant move as long as there's no resolution to these issues, and it could just as easily reverse again the week after. And it's not just that you have to get verified now to trade or that there are no fast, cheap and easy ways to move money in and out like with Dwolla. That's annoying ofcourse, but the main thing is that Gox apparently does not have its act together and trust in the exchange is dwindling. If you can't see that this all would cause a significant loss in volume then you're just blind.