Treasury Note and Bond Auctions

What a Treasury auction is

The U.S. Treasury borrows by selling securities at auction. Every week it sells bills, short-term securities that mature in a year or less, and on a regular schedule it sells notes and bonds, which pay interest every six months and mature in two to thirty years. It also auctions Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), whose principal is adjusted for inflation, and floating rate notes (FRNs).

This site’s calendar focuses on note and bond auctions, because they are the ones that most often draw attention from bond and stock markets.

Who runs them and when

Auctions are conducted by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service on behalf of the Treasury and are documented on TreasuryDirect. Each auction follows four steps:

1. Announcement. A few days ahead, Treasury publishes the security, the amount on offer, the auction date, the issue date and the bid closing times.
2. Bidding. Bids are submitted until the deadline.
3. Results. Treasury announces the results shortly after bidding closes.
4. Issue. The securities are delivered and paid for on the issue date.

For most note and bond auctions, noncompetitive bids close at 12:00 noon Eastern Time and competitive bids close at 1:00 PM Eastern Time. These times are set in each announcement and can vary, so the announcement is the authority.

How the auction works

There are two kinds of bids:

• Noncompetitive bids agree to accept whatever yield the auction produces. They are guaranteed to be filled, up to a limit of $10 million per bidder. Individual investors buying through TreasuryDirect can only bid this way.
• Competitive bids specify the yield the bidder is willing to accept. They are submitted through banks, brokers and dealers, and no single bidder can be awarded more than 35 percent of the offering.

Treasury first fills all the noncompetitive bids. It then accepts competitive bids from the lowest yield upward until the full amount is sold. Every successful bidder receives the same yield: the high yield, the highest yield accepted. Bids exactly at that level may be filled only partly.

The numbers traders watch

The results release includes several figures that bond traders scrutinise:

• The high yield. The yield at which the auction cleared. Traders compare it with the yield at which the same security was trading in the market just before the deadline (the “when-issued” yield). If the auction clears at a higher yield than that, market participants call it a tail, a sign that buyers demanded a concession. Clearing below is sometimes called a stop-through.
• The bid-to-cover ratio. Total bids received divided by the amount accepted. A higher ratio indicates more demand relative to supply.
• The bidder breakdown. The results split the competitive bids among primary dealers (banks and broker-dealers that trade directly with the Federal Reserve and are expected to bid at every auction), direct bidders (other institutions bidding for their own accounts) and indirect bidders (bids placed through an intermediary, a category often said to include foreign central banks and other investors). A large share left with primary dealers is commonly read as weaker end-investor demand.

How markets commonly react

A weak auction (a tail, a low bid-to-cover ratio, or a large dealer share) is commonly said to push yields higher, especially on longer maturities, and can occasionally spill over into stocks when yields are in focus. A strong auction is said to do the reverse. In practice, most auctions pass with little effect. Auctions tend to draw more attention when the government is borrowing heavily, when auction sizes are rising, or when markets are already nervous about the outlook for interest rates. The reaction to any single auction is not dependable.

The broader schedule

Treasury publishes a tentative auction schedule in advance and adjusts the sizes of its auctions over time to meet its financing needs. Changes to the sizes and mix of securities are announced at its quarterly refunding, which itself is watched by bond markets.

Common misreadings

• Treating every tail as a warning. Small tails are common and often meaningless.
• Reading the bid-to-cover ratio in isolation. It is best compared with recent auctions of the same maturity.
• Assuming auctions set interest rates. Auctions price new securities against the existing market; they do not set the Federal Reserve’s policy rate. See the FOMC rate decision.

Frequently asked questions

What time are Treasury auction results released?

Shortly after the competitive bidding deadline, which is usually 1:00 PM Eastern Time for notes and bonds. The exact times are set in each auction announcement.

Can individuals buy at a Treasury auction?

Yes. Individuals can place noncompetitive bids through TreasuryDirect or through a bank or broker, and receive the same yield as everyone else.

What is the bid-to-cover ratio?

Total bids received divided by the amount of securities sold. It gives a rough measure of demand.

What is a “tail” in a Treasury auction?

Market jargon for an auction that clears at a higher yield than the security was trading at just before the deadline, suggesting buyers needed a discount.

Explainer updated November 13, 2026.