Hi Gloria,
I wanted to read the prospectus for your two triple leveraged products and explain the full mechanics to you as to their hedging techniques and see if we can reconcile the use of futures. I was baffled by Bloomberg saying they use futures only and yet their returns of down 98% suggest significant decay over time. The 190 page prospectus has their hedging techniques buried inside and here is a snippet.
Can you tell me more about the effect of Credit Suisse’s hedging activity?
We expect to hedge our obligations under the ETNs through one or more of our affiliates. This hedging activity may involve purchases or sales of futures contracts included in the applicable Index, listed or over-the- counter options, futures contracts, swaps or other derivative instruments relating to the applicable Index or the futures contracts included in the applicable Index or other instruments linked to the applicable Index or the futures contracts included in the applicable Index, including certain exchange traded notes issued by Credit Suisse.
I have so many issues with these triple Leveraged products that I just stopped reading the prospectus after page 30. These sewer products are as bad as Valeant (VRX) in the words of Charlie Munger.
The fact that both the long and short product are down 98% from their highs after five years tells you there is significant expense or decay in the value of these instruments.
Although Credit Suisse has been successful in marketing these products through Janus and other providers, they feel compelled to delist these products from NYSE and stop marketing them presumably to avoid SEC action or future lawsuits. But rather then liquidating the ETNs they will move them to the pink sheets where they have more flexibility to take even more money from the people who already own them and at some point will want their money back.
So the most popular millennial trading product(according to media)is being delisted from NYSE next week. A ETN product that is unsecured ( no assets or interest earned accrues to investor) and packaged by Credit Suisse Nassau branch(no transparency). This product does not pass the smell test!