Abstract: Methods and systems for creating and trading derivative contracts based on a statistical property reflecting a variance of an underlying asset are disclosed. Typically, an underlying asset is chosen to be a base of a variance derivative and a processor calculates a value of the statistical property reflecting an average volatility of price returns of the underlying asset over a predefined period. A trading facility display device coupled to a trading platform then displays the variance derivative based on the value of the statistical property reflecting the volatility of the underlying asset and the trading facility transmits variance derivative quotes from liquidity providers over at least one dissemination network.

Abstract: Systems and methods for creating a limited risk derivative based on a realized variance of an underlying equity is disclosed. In one implementation, a limited risk derivative product includes a capped value for a statistical property reflecting a variance of the underlying equity is calculated based on a pari-mutuel action. The capped value includes a dynamic value and a cap. The dynamic value reflects an average volatility of prices returns of the underlying equity over a predefined period of time and the cap reflects a maximum value of the dynamic value. The limited risk derivative product additionally includes an average of a summation of each squared daily return of the underlying equity included in the value for the statistical property reflecting the variance of the underlying equity.