options expire unlike current futures contracts that have differing contract multipliers perhaps the contract multiplier of a vol would be most successful being standardized among groups of financials and commodities u2014 100 000 u00d7 volatility u00d7 number of months for financials 10 000 u00d7 volatility u00d7 number of months for agriculturals similarly the formula to calculate realized volatility should also be standardized doing so would ensure the greatest acceptance and participation with the least confusion among the trading community an index of volatility that incorporates implied volatility has many drawbacks it could be easily manipulated it appears to have been designed with only market makers in mind u2014 but fails to accommodate them it requires market participants to estimate a future estimation u2014 an intangible result previous attempts have tried to list options before a liquid tradable underlying was available all of these problems are solved with the vol as taught herein which in addition should appeal to a broader array of market participants currently investment banks and market makers have significant volatility exposure with no acceptable method of hedging vol as taught herein will finally allow for a very good hedge although not an exactly arbitrageable one for one match possibly on the order of a five fold reduction in risk or more this instrument opens up an entirely new asset class for professional asset managers and speculators while there have been shown described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as.