How Do Treasury Bills Work?
Von der Redaktion Financial World News · Pädagogische Erklärung · So beziehen wir Renditen
T-bills are sold at a discount and mature at $100. The difference is your interest.
Die vollständige Fassung dieses Leitfadens ist auf Englisch. Titel, Kurzfassung und Navigation sind in Ihrer Sprache, damit Sie entscheiden können, ob Sie weiterlesen.
How Do Treasury Bills Work — the mechanics
A 3-month bill bought at 98.96 and redeemed at 100 earned that spread over about 90 days. There is no coupon cheque. Yield quotes can be discount yield or investment yield — they are not identical.
You buy a bill for less than $100 face and receive $100 at maturity. The difference is the interest. There is no coupon cheque in between.
TreasuryDirect and brokers both offer bills. At maturity, TreasuryDirect can roll into a new bill if you set that; a broker may sweep to cash instead. Read the setting.
T-bills can be compared with savings accounts only after tax (federal taxable; often state-exempt for US persons) and after accepting that a 6-month bill’s rate resets in six months.
Official sources (US Treasuries)
Primary statistics and prospectuses for US Treasuries are published by the issuer, not by this newsroom. The labelled links at the end of this page go to those official sites (DMO, TreasuryDirect, Finanzagentur, MEF, AFT, SNB or ECB as relevant).
Our live board is a teaching overlay: dated prints, named sources, estimated ISIN lines. It is not a replacement for the issuer’s calendar.
Die wichtigsten Punkte
- You buy a bill for less than $100 face and receive $100 at maturity.
- Prices and yields change. When this site quotes them, it dates them on the live board.
- Credit of a G7 government in its own currency is not the same as a stable screen price, and not the same as a bank deposit.
FAQ
- Can T-bill prices fall?
- Yes, slightly, if you sell before maturity after short rates rise. Holding to maturity returns par.