Treasury bill rates today

A treasury bill is a short-term debt instrument sold by the government at a discount and repaid at face value when it matures. The pages here show the latest auction figures and a calculator that works backwards from the price you pay to the face value you receive. Understanding the difference between the quoted stop rate and the true yield helps you compare bills with other savings options.

What a treasury bill actually is

A treasury bill is a short-term debt instrument issued by the government. It is sold below its face value and repaid at face value when it matures. The difference between the price paid at purchase and the amount received at redemption is the return to the holder. This is what is meant when bills are described as sold at a discount.

A bill does not pay interest along the way. There are no periodic coupons, no interim payments and no compounding within the term. The whole reward is concentrated in the gap between the discounted purchase price and the face value repaid at maturity. The discount is set at auction and moves with demand and with the general level of short-term rates.

Because bills are short-dated by design, they suit money that may be needed again within a defined period. They are backed by the government and are treated as a low-risk reference point in the local market. A bill held to maturity gives a known outcome from the day it is bought, provided it is kept until the redemption date.

When reading this page, keep the following in mind:

The engine prints the auction figures and the calculator output in separate blocks; the text here explains the concepts behind them.

The quoted stop rate and the true yield are different measures and are not interchangeable.

The true yield is calculated on the price actually paid, not on the face value.

How the auction sets the discount

The discount on a treasury bill is not fixed in advance by the government. It is settled at auction, where buyers submit the prices or rates at which they are willing to take the paper. When the auction closes, the accepted bids determine the price paid and therefore the discount. The clearing figure that emerges is the stop rate, the rate at which the sale is completed. Because the discount is discovered through bidding rather than announced beforehand, the outcome of each auction depends on the appetite of the buyers present at that sale.

Demand moves the discount. When more money competes for the same supply of bills, buyers accept thinner discounts, and the clearing rate falls. When demand is weak, the government must offer a wider discount to place the paper, and the clearing rate rises. The general level of short-term rates also pulls the discount along: when other short-term instruments pay more, bills must offer a comparable discount to attract buyers, and when short-term rates ease, the discount tends to narrow. Neither force acts alone, and the clearing figure reflects both at the moment of sale.

A bill held to maturity has a known outcome from the day of purchase. The price is fixed at the auction, the face value is fixed by the bill itself, and the redemption date is set. Nothing in between changes those figures, so the gap between what was paid and what will be received is settled at purchase. That is different from an instrument whose value moves with the market after purchase. The known outcome applies only to holding until redemption; selling before that date puts the result back in the hands of the market.

Check with the provider how the auction result is applied to your purchase and whether the price you pay matches the clearing figure.

Check whether the bill is held to maturity on your behalf and how redemption proceeds are paid to you.

Check what happens if you need the money before the redemption date, and on what terms an early sale would occur.

Stop rate, true yield and the gap between them

The stop rate is the figure at which the auction clears, and it is the number most often repeated in auction results. It describes the discount applied to the bill's face value. The true yield is a different measurement: it is worked out against the money you actually hand over, which is smaller than face value. Because the outlay is smaller, the return on that outlay is larger than the quoted stop rate. Reading the two as if they were interchangeable is a common misunderstanding, and it distorts comparisons.

The calculator on this page starts from the price you pay and the face value you receive, so it reports the effective return on your own outlay rather than the auction figure. Use it to translate a quoted stop rate into the return that matches your cash. When you compare a bill with a mutual fund or a deposit, put both on the same footing: the amount actually committed, the return measured against that amount, and the period the money is tied up. A fund reports its return after fees on the full amount invested, so a bill figure and a fund figure only speak to each other when the basis is aligned.

What the tables and calculator do not show: fees or charges applied by an intermediary, the reinvestment return on money received at maturity, and any change in the general level of short-term rates between purchase and redemption. Check with your provider how the price you are quoted is derived, whether any charge sits between the auction figure and your outlay, and how the maturity proceeds are paid.

Reading the tables and calculator on this page

The auction table on this page prints each figure in its own block, so read it across rather than down. The stop rate block tells you the discount at which the auction cleared. The price block shows what a buyer paid per unit of face value at that clearing level. The tenor block tells you how long the money is tied up before redemption. Treat each block as a separate fact and combine them yourself: the quoted rate describes the discount, while the price describes the cash outlay. Neither block, on its own, tells you the return on your money.

The calculator works in the opposite direction to the auction table. You enter the price you pay and the face value you expect at maturity, and it derives the effective return on your outlay. This is useful because your own case rarely matches a standard auction lot: you may buy through a platform, hold for part of the tenor, or roll the proceeds into a new bill. The gap between the price paid and the face value received is the only thing the calculation uses, so keep both entries in the same currency and the same unit.

What the page does not show: fees or charges taken by an intermediary, the effect of reinvesting at an unknown future rate, and any secondary-market price before maturity. Check with your provider how they quote price, whether charges are deducted from the amount you pay or from the redemption, and the settlement timing between paying and receiving the face value.

Common misunderstanding: reading the stop rate as the return on the cash you actually put in.

Common misunderstanding: comparing a bill held to maturity with a fund whose return is reported after fees.

Common misunderstanding: assuming the calculator's output holds if you sell before redemption.

What the page does not show and what to confirm

A frequent misunderstanding is that the stop rate is the return the buyer receives. It is not: it describes how the auction cleared, while the money outcome depends on the price paid and the face value received. Another is to treat the calculator result as a fixed feature of the market rather than an illustration built from the figures entered. Readers also sometimes assume a bill can be sold early on the same terms as holding it to redemption; the page does not address what a sale before maturity would return.

The engine prints rates, dates and amounts, but it does not display the fees or charges a provider may apply, the minimum amount accepted, the settlement timeline, or how proceeds are paid at maturity. It does not show what happens if a bill is held in custody through an intermediary, nor how tax treatment applies to the discount. Those details sit with the provider and can change the outcome materially.

Before acting, put practical questions to the provider:

Which charges apply to the purchase and to redemption, and how are they collected.

How and when the bill is settled, and how the face value is paid at maturity.

Whether the bill can be sold before maturity and how the proceeds would be calculated.

How the discount is treated for tax purposes in the reader's own case.

Whether the figures shown match the provider's own confirmation before any money moves.