After being taken over by UBS Group, Credit Suisse announced it is ending nine exchange-traded notes it previously offered, including eight VelocityShares ETNs that lost significant value when volatility funds as a whole crashed. Several of Credit Suisse's VelocityShares ETNs and other complex products actually dropped off of NASDAQ, delisted and traded over-the-counter ever since.
For instance, Credit Suisse's VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX ST ETN (formerly XIV on NASDAQ) lost over 90% of its value in 2018, headlining a series of poor performers that included several other Credit Suisse offerings such as VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX ST ETN ("TVIX"), Daily 2x VIX MT ETN (TVIZ), VelocityShares VIX Tail Risk ETN (BSWN), and VelocityShares VIX Variable L/S ETN (LSVX), all of which lost over 50% in value during that downturn.
Although Credit Suisse delisted, and now culled, nine problematic ETNs, it will continue offering several X-Links ETNs, including the X-Links Crude Oil Shares Covered Call ETN (USOI), Silver Shares Covered Call ETN (SLVO), and Gold Shares Covered Call ETN (GLDI).
Exchange-traded products, such as exchange traded-notes (ETNs) and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), can be extremely risky for investors and may be unsuitable for investors with lower risk tolerance preferences, including conservative-to-moderate objectives. In many cases, the products' prospectus and offering documents themselves explicitly warn investors about the increased risks that come with investing in complex products.
For instance, the TVIX prospectus and pricing supplement documents warned several times of the potential to lose one's entire investment ("you will lose your entire investment in the ETN") as well as warning that its ETN was not intended for investors with long investment time horizons ("we do not intend or expect any investor to hold the ETN from inception to maturity"), further warning that the expected closing value of the ETN at maturity "is likely to be close to zero."
If you invested with any broker or investment adviser in a Credit Suisse VelocityShares ETN or in another complex product such as an ETN or ETF that exceeded your risk tolerance level or investment objectives, and such unsuitable recommendation has proven harmful to your interests through losses or other damages, please call an experienced FINRA arbitration attorney at The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.