QLD QID quivering oddly

I had this vision that it would be possible to toast all small time traders by making the bid/ask vibrate so horribly that nobody could scalp it. Longer term traders or those with bigger tolerance for risk (wider stops) could still trade.

I used to scalp QLD/QID. Don't ask why, it just seemed like the thing to do. Now (Oct 2008) the bid ask is vibrating all over the place like water on a hot skillet. The only thing you can do is place a target in the range of quivering and hope it gets hit. The QQQQ is much more sensible and liquid and tradeable. I am always very curious what the software looks like that drives these things. What inputs are they keyed off of ?

I have learned that QLD etc. do not buy the actual underlying components of the index. Rather they have warrants with other parties who deliver the components to them with a certain amount of time displacement (possibly hours or days ?). Either that or they never own the underlying and have some queer deal with these warrant people.

In any case, you don't express yourself in the marketplace by buying ETFs. You might as well just do spread betting (very popular in the UK so I hear) or just go down t' pub and wager with your mates. Its certainly not investing. Your capital was never used for anything legitimate like paying wages or buying raw supplies. Your profits are only non-sensical gambling in the sphere of derivitaves of fake value.