August 2026 Structured Notes Review: The 23 We Actually Liked

Third month of the same exercise: read every structured note on the new-issue calendar, throw out the ones that don't stand up, write down the ones we'd actually consider. June gave us 36 keepers out of 150, July a stingy 16 out of 133. August lands in between — 23 out of 135 — and the reason is mostly pleasant: a lot of July's picks came back this month paying more. When an issuer re-runs a note we already liked and fattens the terms, it stays on the list.

The usual reminder on how I count protection: I state the decline a note protects you against, so "a 50% barrier" here means you're safe until the underlying falls more than 50%. Offering documents quote the same thing as a level — my 40% barrier is their "60% of the initial level." Bigger number in my framing means more protection.

August 2026 in numbers

The 135 notes broke down as 37 snowball, 35 income, 28 growth, 15 capped, 12 hybrid, and 8 boost. Twenty-three made the list: seven snowball, six boost, four growth, three income, three hybrid. The capped bucket goes zero for fifteen for the second month straight — stretched over three to five years, none of those caps paid enough per year of holding to compete with the short boost family.

Every pick's terms and one-line reasoning live in the picks section at the bottom of this page, served straight from our notes database.

Growth

The headline growth pick is the same one it was in July, re-issued a touch richer. BNP's five-year note on its Multi-Asset index (09664MTP4) now pays 6.05x participation, uncapped, with 100% of principal protected. Everything we wrote last month still applies: the index is a mild, diversified grinder we'd never accept on an unprotected growth note, but with principal off the table, six times a modest grind is a real return and a bad year costs you nothing.

The S&P 500 Futures index family got richer too. July's best print was 2.15x from Barclays; August's is BNP's five-year at 2.2255x uncapped behind a 30% barrier (09664NPR2). Same drag warning as always — the futures index runs a few percent a year behind the headline S&P, and the extra participation is partly rent for that. The index has finished higher in 14 of its 16 rolling five-year windows, which is the bet you're actually making. Its three-year sibling (09664NPC5) is the shorter, gentler take: 1.35x uncapped, and a dual-directional leg that turns a decline of up to 30% into a positive return instead of a loss.

Rounding out the bucket, BofA re-issued July's European note unchanged: two years on the Euro Stoxx 50 at 1.25x uncapped with a hard 10% buffer (09712GFQ2). Still the tidy way to hold international equity without a five-year commitment.

Boost

BofA's short buffered family — the one we've liked three months running — traded some cap for more muscle. The 18-month notes now run 1.5x participation instead of July's 1.25x, still with the first 10% of any loss absorbed: the S&P 500 (09712GXX7) caps at 17.25%, the Nasdaq-100 (09712GZF4) at 25%, and the Russell 2000 (09712GMU5) at 23.75%. On a per-year basis that's roughly 11.5% to 16.7% of upside room, and the higher leverage means you get there on a smaller index move.

JP Morgan's 15-month S&P note came back as well (46661K6H6), at 2x to an 11.75% cap over a 10% buffer — a quarter point more cap than July. Same profile as before: it suits a market that grinds up modestly rather than runs.

Two boost picks are new shapes. BMO — a name making its first appearance on this list — has a two-year S&P note (06376LVV5) paying 3x up to a 21.11% cap, with a 10% buffer and an absolute-return leg: a decline inside the first 10% pays you the decline as a gain. Both directions of a quiet market pay. And JP Morgan re-ran June's bitcoin-ETF note (46661KBC1): three years on IBIT at 1.5x to a 140% cap, protected unless the fund falls more than 30%. June's version capped at 168%, so the trade got more expensive, but 140% of headroom on three years of bitcoin exposure with a 30% cushion is still nothing like a bare position.

Income

Three picks out of 35 this month, and the bar hasn't moved: on a leveraged or decrement index, either the trigger is easy or the coupon is enormous.

The enormous-coupon one is BNP's three-year note on the S&P 500 Futures 35% Defined Volatility index (09664NMY0): 19% annualized, paid monthly, as long as the index hasn't fallen more than 30% from its start. We took this trade at 18.5% in June and 18.75% in July; August pays 19% for the identical structure. A demanding trigger, but you're genuinely paid for it.

The easy-trigger ones are a pair of five-year JP Morgan notes on the MerQube low-vol indices (46661K3F3 on MQUSLVA, 46661KAF5 on MQUSGVA), each paying roughly 14.5% quarterly as long as its index hasn't fallen more than 40% — a forgiving line for indices built to grind sideways-to-up, with principal protected to the same 40%. These match the shape we liked in June. Nothing on a single stock made the cut again; no coupon this month was exceptional enough to carry the no-recovery risk a single company brings.

Snowball

The biggest bucket, and mostly a story of July's picks coming back better. The two five-year BNP autocalls on the defined-volatility S&P futures indices re-issued at 27% (09664NMZ7) and 29% (09664NN45) accruing premium — up from 26.75% and 28% — each calling quarterly from year one when its index is merely flat, each protected unless the index falls more than 50%. JP Morgan's five-year on MQUSLVA (46661K5G9) does the annual version of the same trick at 30%, also behind a 50% barrier, a half point better than the June note it repeats.

Barclays brought the structural oddity of the month (06749JFT3), and it's a good one: a five-year note that calls monthly from year one whenever its index is at 90% of the start or better. Read that again — it pays its 18.75%-a-year premium even with the index down ten percent. Protection at maturity is a 15% buffer, not a barrier, so the first slice of a real decline is absorbed rather than merely tolerated. The index is an engineered Barclays one, which is exactly where our standards allow it: this structure only needs flat.

The fully protected side of the bucket had its best month yet. BNP's five-year digital on the Multi-Asset index (09664MTU3) pays a one-time 76.9% — about 12% a year — if the index is anywhere at or above its start at maturity, with uncapped 1x participation as the fallback; July's version paid 73.5%. The annual-snowball sibling (09664MTY5) accrues 18.35% a year, a full four points above July's 14.35%. And the one seven-year note on the list (09664MTZ2) is arguably the best-paid CD we've seen in three months of doing this: a 21.15% annual snowball premium plus 2x uncapped participation as the backup, principal fully protected. Seven years is a long time to lend a bank your money — but every one of these pays something in a flat market and none of them can lose principal, which is why the long tenor and the issuer's call rights don't disqualify them here.

Hybrid

The Apple / Microsoft / Nvidia note is back (09664NRT6), nearly a photocopy of July's: a single autocall observation at the one-year mark that pays 40.15% if the basket is at or above its start, 3x uncapped participation at maturity if it never calls, protection unless the basket has fallen more than 40%, and a dual-directional leg that pays a moderate decline as a gain. July's sibling paid 40.25%, so call it unchanged. The same warning travels with it: three stocks are not an index, and a cratered stock can stay cratered.

JP Morgan re-ran June's ether note (46661KBG2): 32% for the ETHA fund being flat-or-up at year one, 1.5x uncapped as the consolation, protected to a 40% decline. June's paid 38.25% — crypto call premiums are coming in — but a 32% payment for flat remains a well-paid structure if you wanted the exposure anyway.

The one genuinely new face is Morgan Stanley's four-year note on a Russell 2000 / S&P 500 / Euro Stoxx 50 basket (61781DCS5): 31% at the one-year observation, 1.5x uncapped backup, protected unless the worst of the three has fallen more than 30%. It's the hybrid asymmetry we like — big payment for flat, leveraged participation as the fallback — built on major indices instead of single names, at the cost of worst-of exposure across three of them.

How we choose

Same filters as June and July, applied to a new month. Fee-based notes only — anything commissioned is out before we read the terms. Buffers beat barriers of the same size. Growth notes must sit on real, broad indices; income and snowball notes may sit on engineered ones, because those structures only need flat, and the engineered indices carry the best terms. Every note is judged against its peers in the same month, and a dominated note is dropped. Issuer calls count against unprotected notes and are forgiven on fully protected ones.

That's how 135 became the 23 below. August's lesson, if there is one: when the notes you liked last month come back paying more, the discipline of writing the terms down starts paying for itself. Next month we'll do it again.

This review is for education only and is not investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Every note listed carries the credit risk of its issuing bank and is not FDIC insured, except for genuine market-linked CDs. Terms are summarized from the August 2026 calendar and may change; confirm all details in each note's official offering documents before acting on anything here.