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Do x-year treasuries become y-year treasuries (x-y) years later?

Personal Finance & Money Asked on July 20, 2021

My understanding is that treasuries can be bought and sold (which is what causes their changing interest rate because of their changing price). Since they aren’t static/locked assets, does that mean that if in 2020 someone holds a 10yr treasury, in 2025 it can be bought/sold as a 5yr treasury? Or is it still a 10yr, with an expiration in 5 years?
Somewhat relatedly, what happens to treasuries when they approach their expiration? I doubt anybody in the world is looking to buy a treasury bill expiring in 4 days. The price for this bond must be essentially 0 because of no demand, so its rate must be infinite?

One Answer

Yes, these are called "off-the-run" treasuries. Since they are not sold by the treasury directly but sold in secondary markets, they are less liquid than "on-the-run" treasuries and are cheaper (have a slightly higher yield) that the more liquid treasuries sold at auction.

Also, since a "10-year treasury" is just a treasury bond that matures in 10 years, and the maturity date is fixed, in a sense they do become "5-year treasuries" after 5 years, but I do not know how brokers actually list them (e.g. they may list them as "10-year 5% notes maturing YYYY-MM-DD" and you do the mental math to determine the time remaining). The key metric when pricing these bonds is the time-to-maturity, not the original tenor of the note.

I doubt anybody in the world is looking to buy a treasury bill expiring in 4 days.

If someone has a 30-year note that is expiring in 4 days and is willing to sell it for a lower price than current 4-day treasury bill (which doesn't exist, but say it did for the sake of argument) why wouldn't you buy it? You'd get a better yield than if you bought one from the treasury directly.

I can't speak to the actual market for 4-day treasuries, but anything is for sale for a price...

The price for this bond must be essentially 0 because of no demand

That's not how bonds are priced. Why would someone sell a $1,000 bond for zero when they're guaranteed to get $1,000 in 4 days? The "clean" price of these bonds should be very slightly below par. If the bond pays a coupon, then you'd also pay whatever interest has accrued since the last coupon was paid (called the "dirty" price). So for a $1,000 bond with a 5% coupon ($25 every 6 months), you might end up paying $1,024.50 for a bond that will give you $1,025.00 in 4 days.

Correct answer by D Stanley on July 20, 2021

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