It's certainly possible the general public won't view it that way, but it's clearly the right way to view it.
By calculating volatility using nominal values, we can conclude that the Google stock is 200 times more volatile than the AMD stock (because the Google stock has risen by $10 today ($1057 to $1067) and AMD only $0.05 ($3.64 to $3.69). And that a share of Berkshire Hathaway is 130 times more volatile than Google (and 26,000 times as volatile as AMD). We can also conclude that a company can reduce the volatility of its stock by performing a stock split.
Clearly this doesn't make sense, and it doesn't serve its purpose: to assess the how much money you gain/lose when buying $x worth of something and the price changes. Whether you buy $1000 worth of bitcoins at $1 and they drop to 50 cents, or you buy $1000 worth of bitcoins at $1000 and they drop to $500, you've lost the same: $500. That's the relevant metric.
Ask the general public whether they would rather hold $1000 worth of bitcoins going from $1 to $15 or $1000 worth of bitcoins going from $500 to $1000 and I'm fairly sure you'll get the right answer.
By calculating volatility using nominal values, we can conclude that the Google stock is 200 times more volatile than the AMD stock (because the Google stock has risen by $10 today ($1057 to $1067) and AMD only $0.05 ($3.64 to $3.69). And that a share of Berkshire Hathaway is 130 times more volatile than Google (and 26,000 times as volatile as AMD). We can also conclude that a company can reduce the volatility of its stock by performing a stock split.
Clearly this doesn't make sense, and it doesn't serve its purpose: to assess the how much money you gain/lose when buying $x worth of something and the price changes. Whether you buy $1000 worth of bitcoins at $1 and they drop to 50 cents, or you buy $1000 worth of bitcoins at $1000 and they drop to $500, you've lost the same: $500. That's the relevant metric.
Ask the general public whether they would rather hold $1000 worth of bitcoins going from $1 to $15 or $1000 worth of bitcoins going from $500 to $1000 and I'm fairly sure you'll get the right answer.