Structured Products We Handle
Steepeners
Interest tied to the spread between long- and short-term rates. When the yield curve flattened and inverted, these got crushed.
What it is
A steepener is a structured note whose interest payments are tied to the spread between long-term and short-term interest rates — for example, the difference between the 30-year and 2-year rates. As long as long-term rates stay well above short-term rates (a 'steep' curve), the note pays an attractive coupon. The product is a leveraged bet that the yield curve will remain steep.
How it's sold
Steepeners are often sold with a high teaser coupon for the first year or two and long stated maturities (sometimes 15-30 years), pitched as high-yield fixed income. The dependence on the shape of the yield curve — and what happens when that curve flattens — is frequently glossed over.
What goes wrong
When the yield curve flattened and then inverted in 2018-2019 (and again in subsequent rate cycles), steepener coupons collapsed, in some cases to near zero, while investors remained locked into long-dated notes they could only exit at a loss. Investors who believed they had bought steady income found themselves holding an illiquid, underwater bet on interest-rate geometry.
What a claim might look like
Claims commonly allege that the note was unsuitable for an income-focused or risk-averse investor, that the consequences of a flattening or inverting curve were not disclosed, and that the long maturity and illiquidity were not explained. The gap between the marketed 'fixed income' and the actual rate-spread derivative is the heart of many of these cases.
Other Structured Products We Handle
Auto-Callable Notes
High coupons that look like income — until the note is called early and your upside is capped while your downside isn't.
Learn moreWorst-Of Notes
Your return depends on the worst performer of several assets — marketed as diversification, but it's the opposite. FINRA is reviewing these in 2026.
Learn morePrincipal-Protected Notes
'Protected' only at maturity, and only if the issuing bank stays solvent. The 2023 Credit Suisse wipeout showed what 'protected' can really mean.
Learn moreReverse Convertibles
A high coupon that can pay you back in depreciated stock instead of cash — effectively a sold put option dressed up as a bond.
Learn moreMarket-Linked CDs
They look like FDIC-insured CDs, but only the principal is insured — the equity-linked returns are not. Sold to investors expecting CD-like safety.
Learn more
Talk to a structured products attorney — for free
Find out whether you have a claim in a free, confidential case evaluation. There is no obligation, and you pay no attorneys' fees unless we recover for you.*