What Is GVol?
GVol (Gate Volatility Index) is a series of volatility indices launched by Gate, designed to measure the market's expectation of price volatility for a specific underlying asset over the next 30 days. Currently, Gate has introduced two GVol indices:
- BVIX : The 30-day expected volatility of BTC
- EVIX : The 30-day expected volatility of ETH
The index quote is 100 times the actual volatility. For example, if the index price is 50.5, it indicates an implied volatility of 50.5%.
GVol reflects the market consensus on the magnitude of future price fluctuations, and can be regarded as the crypto market's "sentiment indicator" or "risk radar." The index is derived from options market data to capture the market's expectations of future volatility.
How to Trade GVol?
You can directly trade GVol through the volatility index perpetual contracts listed on Gate: BVIXUSDT and EVIXUSDT.
A quote of 50.5 USDT in the order book represents a volatility level of 50.5%. The GVol contract multiplier is 1, meaning that each contract has a notional value of 50.5 USDT when the mark price is 50.5.
Unlike trading standard perpetual futures, which requires predicting the price direction of the underlying asset, trading volatility indices only requires you to judge the level of market activity:
- If you expect a significant market move (whether prices rise or fall), you may consider going long BVIX or EVIX.
- If you expect the market to remain in a low-volatility environment, you may consider shorting the volatility index to capture potential returns.
How Is GVol Calculated?
The GVol is constructed using data from major options markets through the following methodology:
- Using "the current date + 30 days" as the reference date, select the option contracts with the nearest preceding and succeeding expiration dates relative to the reference date.
- Option quotes from multiple exchanges are aggregated. Contracts with higher liquidity and narrower bid-ask spreads are prioritized to ensure data quality and pricing efficiency.
- Using At-The-Money (ATM) option market prices, the system derives the implied synthetic forward price. This forward price is then used to identify and filter Out-of-The-Money (OTM) options. Following the Variance Swap framework, the system calculates the volatility implied by OTM options at the two selected expiration dates. The results are time-weighted to obtain the final 30-day volatility estimate.
- To reduce short-term noise and improve index stability, the system applies Exponential Moving Average (EMA) smoothing to the per-second volatility outputs, generating a stable and continuous GVol index series.
