From first principles to deep structures
16 lessons that take apart how structured products are engineered, priced and risk-managed. Plain English, no jargon for its own sake, and every diagram explained.
What are structured products?
A structured product is a single instrument that packages a bond and one or more options to deliver a defined, pre-agreed payoff. Start here.
Reading a payoff curve
The payoff diagram is the single most useful picture in structured products. Learn to read the axes, the kinks and the flats at a glance.
Participation, caps and barriers
Three dials shape most structures. Understand how participation, caps and barriers interact and you can read almost any payoff.
How market-linked debentures actually work
MLDs are the most common structured wrapper in India. Here is what links the return to a market, and what the fine print really means.
Capital protection explained
How a structure can return your principal and still give you market upside, and what that protection genuinely costs.
Yield enhancement and the coupon trade-off
Enhanced coupons look like free yield. They are not. Understand exactly what you sell to earn them.
Twin-win and absolute-return structures
Structures that can pay whether the market rises or falls sound too good to be true. Here is the condition that makes them work, and where they break.
The Maximiser and airbag mechanics
Maximisers gear the upside and add an airbag on the downside. Understand both halves, especially the cliff the airbag hides.
Leverage and participation notes
Gearing magnifies a view. It also magnifies the cost of being wrong. How leveraged participation notes really behave.
Why volatility changes the terms you are offered
Volatility is more than risk. It is the raw material a structure is priced from, and it quietly decides whether the terms in front of you are generous or thin.
Issuer and credit risk
The risk that gets forgotten. A structured product is a promise, and a promise is only as good as the party making it.
Liquidity, and what happens if you exit early
Most structured notes are listed, and almost none of them trade. Here is what an early exit actually looks like, and what it tends to cost.
How structured products are taxed in India
The tax treatment of market-linked debentures changed materially in 2023. If you are comparing a headline return to a fixed deposit, this is the lesson that matters.
Entry and exit levels: the numbers that actually decide your return
Your return is measured from a level fixed by the term sheet, not from where the index sits on the day you invest. On most notes it is not even a single day's close.
What these products cost, and why coming through us does not add to it
There is a cost inside every structured note. What there is not is a second cost for using a distributor. Here is the difference, stated plainly.
Fitting structures into a portfolio
Structured products are a tool, not a portfolio. The final lesson is about where they belong and how much is enough.