Invesco PowerShares, basking in the success of its low-volatility SPLV, filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to market an actively managed equities-based portfolio that seeks to lower investment risks by pairing stocks with instruments related to CBOE Volatility, or VIX, futures.

Apart from equities and VIX-related tools, such as listed VIX futures contracts, the PowerShares Equity Allocation Portfolio will also invest in swaps and notes as well as money market instruments, according to the filing, which was dated Jan. 13.

Investments designed to tame the uncertainty and volatility that have characterized financial markets since the crash of 2008 have become all the rage in the ETF industry over the past year. The poster child for the trend has to be the PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio (NYSEArca: SPLV), which has gathered more than $1 billion since it came to market in May 2011.

That said, the proposed PowerShares Equity Allocation Portfolio is a different beast. Where the passively managed SPLV simply cherry-picks the least volatile stocks on a rolling 12-month basis at each quarterly rebalance, the new fund—again an active ETF—looks like it will seek to manage volatility in a more instantaneous manner by holding combinations of stocks, VIX futures and cash.

The VIX is the market’s leading measure of volatility. It typically spikes in value when stocks are selling off sharply, and is considered a form of portfolio insurance. One of the more successful exchange-traded notes on the market, the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSEArca: VXX), is focused on the VIX. It had almost $700 million in assets as of Jan. 13, according to data compiled by IndexUniverse.

PowerShares didn’t disclose the new fund’s proposed ticker or its annual expense ratio.