Slope Naming Convention

Traders and analysts use a compact shorthand to name yield curve spreads. The convention encodes both tenors into a single label.

Year tenors use the number followed by s (for "years"): 2s = 2-Year, 5s = 5-Year, 10s = 10-Year, 30s = 30-Year. Month tenors use the number followed by m (for "months"): 3m = 3-Month, 6m = 6-Month. The short tenor comes first, the long tenor second. The spread itself is always long minus short.

Common examples:

• 2s10s = 10-Year minus 2-Year (the most widely tracked slope)
• 3m10y = 10-Year minus 3-Month (the Fed's preferred recession indicator; uses "y" instead of "s" to avoid ambiguity with "3s" meaning 3-Year)
• 2s30s = 30-Year minus 2-Year
• 5s30s = 30-Year minus 5-Year

The y suffix (as in 3m10y or 1y2y) appears when clarity requires distinguishing years from other units. In practice, context resolves most ambiguity, so 2s10s rather than 2y10y is standard.

A positive spread means the curve is upward-sloping between those two tenors. A negative spread means it is inverted. The absolute level, direction of change, and speed of change all matter for regime classification and trading decisions.