"The potential of market volatility affecting pricing is the biggest problem and the most major concern, " Mr. Cutler said.

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This suggests that, on a daily basis, traders are pricing a historically high level of volatility into option contracts.

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Selman Akyol at Stifel Nicolaus has become critical of some partnerships in natural gas storage because the flatness in natgas pricing makes it difficult for some customers to profit from the volatility of the commodity.

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The "capital asset pricing model" identified one factor, beta, or a stock's volatility relative to the index, as pivotal to the stock's returns.

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While equities encompassing all market capitalizations have been impacted by the market correction, the volatility associated with hedge funds and the massive contraction in financial services have exacerbated pricing disparities among small-cap equities.

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Underwriters consider a variety of factors in pricing policies, including the fund's size, its strategy, investor-base, performance, volatility, leverage and service providers.

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Yet beneath all that volatility lies a haunting and inexorable truth: "In real-dollar terms, paper pricing basically goes down" over the long haul, says Georgia Pacific President Lee Thomas .

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