Buying and selling exercise in benchmark U.S. Treasury securities now concentrates on the final buying and selling day of the month. Furthermore, this stepped-up exercise is related to decrease transaction prices, as proven by a smaller value impression of trades. We conjecture that elevated turn-of-month portfolio rebalancing by passive funding funds that handle relative to fixed-income indices helps clarify these patterns.
Buying and selling Quantity Concentrates on the Final Day of the Month
Since 2020, buying and selling exercise in benchmark Treasury notes and bonds has been roughly 33 p.c greater on the final buying and selling day of the month, on common, as proven within the chart under.
Buying and selling Quantity Is Increased on the Final Day of the Month
Notes: The chart reveals the common p.c deviation of buying and selling quantity on every day of the month as in comparison with the common for a similar day of the week for the 2 weeks previous and following that day. Days of the month are plotted relative to the final day of the month, with 0 being the final buying and selling day and 1 being the primary buying and selling day. Quantity is for essentially the most not too long ago auctioned two-, three-, five-, seven-, ten-, twenty-, and thirty-year nominal securities and the pattern interval is January 1, 2020, to July 31, 2024.
Furthermore, as proven within the subsequent chart, this end-of-month impact has been rising over time and was basically nonexistent within the day by day knowledge earlier than 2015.
Finish-of-Month Results Have Been Rising over Time
Notes: The chart reveals the common p.c deviation of buying and selling quantity on every day of the month as in comparison with the common for a similar day of the week for the 2 weeks previous and following that day for the indicated time durations and benchmark Treasury notes. The pattern interval is January 1, 2005, to July 31, 2024.
To gauge the end-of-month patterns way back to doable, we base our evaluation on knowledge from an interdealer dealer whose protection goes again to the early 2000s. Treasury TRACE, in distinction, higher measures the breadth of buying and selling available in the market, together with for the dealer-to-customer market and seasoned securities (see this submit), however begins in July 2017. Whereas there is no such thing as a cause to suppose that our evaluation is biased regardless of not viewing all market exercise, month-end patterns might differ in different segments of the market.
Our evaluation controls for day-of-week results. This might matter as a result of Friday is the final buying and selling day of the month about 3 times extra usually than different weekdays (Friday is the final buying and selling day for months that finish on Saturday or Sunday). That stated, exercise on Friday is corresponding to that of different weekdays, with benchmark observe and bond quantity about 4 p.c decrease than common. By comparability, quantity on Monday is 12 p.c decrease than common, whereas quantity on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday is greater than common by 2 p.c, 5 p.c, and seven p.c, respectively.
Our evaluation doesn’t management for variations in end-of-month results throughout months. Most notably, buying and selling tends to be 16 p.c decrease on the final buying and selling day of December due to the shortened vacation buying and selling hours, decrease buying and selling desk staffing ranges, and presumably positions which were realigned upfront of that day. It follows that quantity has been 37 p.c greater on the final day of the month since 2020 if Decembers are excluded. We don’t discover important variations in end-of-month patterns for different months.
The tip-of-month impact is powerful to safety sort, as proven within the chart above. Two- and five-year notes are issued month-to-month, on the final day of the month, which could induce some month-to-month sample in buying and selling exercise. Nevertheless, the impact is roughly as sturdy for the ten-year observe, which is issued mid-month. (Furthermore, even for the two- and five-year notes, the extra related public sale days are concentrated two to 3 days earlier than the top of every month, as proven in this paper’s Determine A1). Patterns are considerably stronger for the much less actively traded benchmark securities, which explains why the month-end impact within the first chart above is considerably greater than the consequences noticed within the second chart for the two-, five-, and ten-year notes (for a similar 2020-2024 pattern interval).
Why Do These Finish-of-Month Results Happen?
Finish-of-month results have been studied throughout varied asset markets and geographies, focusing totally on costs and returns. For instance, Ariel (1987) and Lakonishok and Smidt (1988) discover greater U.S. fairness market returns in the previous few days of the month. Hartley and Schwarz (2019) and Etula et al. (2020) determine greater end-of-month U.S. Treasury returns and attribute them to cost strain from institutional buyers’ trades and portfolio rebalancing. The previous paper reveals that web month-end purchases of Treasuries by insurers exceed web purchases on some other day of the month. Furthermore, it finds that insurers that benchmark their efficiency extra intently to indices present better web purchases of the securities which are added to the index and that these purchases are focused on the end-of-month rebalancing date.
Proof on end-of-month value patterns and returns, nevertheless, doesn’t instantly translate to greater than standard quantity on the final buying and selling day of the month. Whereas not learning the impression on the combination market, Dick-Nielsen and Rossi (2019) look at the consequences of company bond index rebalancing, additionally occurring on the final day of the month, and discover that the quantity of bonds which are excluded from the index is 4 to 5 instances greater than regular.
Comparable channels is likely to be at play within the U.S. Treasury market. The excessive focus of quantity on the final buying and selling day of the month and the rising focus over time coincide with the expansion of passive funds that monitor index adjustments. For instance, though nonetheless small as a fraction of U.S. Treasuries excellent, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that monitor Treasuries grew greater than ten-fold between 2013 and mid-2024 as proven within the chart under, surpassing the two-fold progress of Treasuries excellent over the identical interval. Asset managers are more and more managing relative to indices which are rebalanced on the finish of every month and this can be inflicting buyers to more and more commerce at the moment.
U.S. Treasury ETF Belongings Beneath Administration Are Rising Quickly
Notes: The chart plots the month-to-month common of belongings underneath administration of U.S. Treasury exchange-traded funds (ETFs). U.S. Treasury ETFs embody the sixty-six ETFs included within the “Treasuries ETFs record” on etfdb.com and are described as ETFs that make investments primarily in U.S. Treasury notes of varied lengths. The pattern interval is January 1, 2013, to July 31, 2024.
How Is Finish-of-Month Liquidity Affected?
The connection between buying and selling quantity and liquidity just isn’t a easy one. Quantity and volatility are positively correlated, and volatility and liquidity are negatively correlated (see this examine, for instance). One subsequently may anticipate a destructive relationship between quantity and liquidity, and that’s what’s seen at instances of market turmoil, similar to across the near-failure of Lengthy-Time period Capital Administration (see this paper), through the 2007-09 monetary disaster (see this paper), and through the COVID-19-related disruptions of March 2020 (see this paper).
Within the case of month-ends, nevertheless, the purported causes for the upper end-of-month exercise aren’t information-based, and the upper quantity just isn’t related to greater volatility. Increased quantity that arises unbiased of volatility is related to improved liquidity, in step with bigger Treasury points, and essentially the most not too long ago issued Treasuries, being extra actively traded and extra liquid (see this paper and this paper).
It follows that liquidity tends to be markedly higher on the final buying and selling day of the month. Since 2020, price-impact coefficients for benchmark notes have been about 26 p.c decrease, on common, as proven within the chart under, indicating higher liquidity.
Value Impression Is Decrease on the Final Day of the Month
Notes: The chart reveals the common p.c deviation of value impression on every day of the month as in comparison with the common for a similar day of the week for the 2 weeks previous and following that day averaged throughout the benchmark two-, five-, and ten-year Treasury notes. Days of the month are plotted relative to the final day of the month, with 0 being the final buying and selling day and 1 being the primary buying and selling day. Value impression is calculated for every day and safety because the slope coefficient from a regression of one-minute value adjustments on one-minute web order movement (buyer-initiated buying and selling quantity much less seller-initiated buying and selling quantity). The pattern interval is January 1, 2020, to July 31, 2024.
Furthermore, this end-of-month liquidity enchancment has been rising in magnitude over time, in a way akin to that for buying and selling quantity, as proven within the subsequent chart.
Finish-of-Month Value Impression Results Have Been Growing in Magnitude over Time
Notes: The chart reveals the common p.c deviation of value impression on the final buying and selling day of every day of the month as in comparison with the common for a similar day of the week for the 2 weeks previous and following that day for varied time durations and benchmark Treasury notes. Value impression is calculated for every day and safety because the slope coefficient from a regression of one-minute value adjustments on one-minute web order movement (buyer-initiated buying and selling quantity much less seller-initiated buying and selling quantity). The pattern interval is January 1, 2005, to July 31, 2024.
Comparable however weaker patterns are noticed for different measures of market liquidity. Quoted depth on the inside tier has been about 6 p.c greater on the final buying and selling day of the month since 2020, on common, implying higher liquidity, as in comparison with 9 p.c decrease between 2005 and 2009 (p.c variations are first calculated for every of the two-, five-, and ten-year notes, after which averaged throughout them). Bid-ask spreads have been about 1 p.c narrower on the final day of the month, on common, suggesting barely higher liquidity, as in comparison with 2 p.c wider between 2005 and 2009. The weak end-of-month results for spreads specifically are probably attributable to minimal tick sizes, which trigger spreads to fluctuate little exterior instances of market stress (see this paper, for instance).
Implications
Based mostly on this submit’s findings solely, one may conclude that the final buying and selling day of the month is an particularly good time to commerce due to the day’s greater buying and selling quantity and decrease transaction prices. Nevertheless, the proof of periodicity in returns from different research means that advantageous instances to commerce fluctuate for different causes and differ between patrons and sellers. These month-to-month patterns additionally change over time, as proven on this submit, warranting shut watching of those patterns going ahead.
Henry Dyer is a analysis analyst within the Federal Reserve Financial institution of New York’s Analysis and Statistics Group.
Michael J. Fleming is the pinnacle of Capital Markets Research within the Federal Reserve Financial institution of New York’s Analysis and Statistics Group.
Or Shachar is a monetary analysis advisor in Capital Markets Research within the Federal Reserve Financial institution of New York’s Analysis and Statistics Group.
cite this submit:
Henry Dyer, Michael Fleming, and Or Shachar, “Finish‑of‑Month Liquidity within the Treasury Market,” Federal Reserve Financial institution of New York Liberty Avenue Economics, September 24, 2024, https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2024/09/end-of-month-liquidity-in-the-treasury-market/.
Disclaimer
The views expressed on this submit are these of the creator(s) and don’t essentially mirror the place of the Federal Reserve Financial institution of New York or the Federal Reserve System. Any errors or omissions are the duty of the creator(s).