Back to:INVESTMENTS TRADING & FINANCIAL MARKETS

Treasury STRIPS Definition

STRIPs is an acronym for Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal security. Treasury STRIPS are fixed-income securities (they pay fixed-income on maturity) which are purchased below their face value and offer no interest in the form of coupon payments before maturity. There are otherwise known as zero-coupon based treasuries as investors are not paid semiannually. STRIPS are gotten when the coupon payments on bonds and notes are separated from the principal investments. Yields on this investment are gotten from the difference between the face value of the bonds or notes and the discounted prices at which they were bought. Yields are usually gotten if held till the original security matures.

A Little More on What are Treasury STRIPS

First established in 1985, Treasury STRIPS are backed by the U.S. government and are thus deemed to be low-risk investments. Most STRIPS are tax-free at both federal and state levels, thus making them a viable substitute for both Certificates of Accrual on Treasury Security (CATS) and Treasury Investment Growth Receipts (TIGRs) which were the most bought zero-coupon based debt instruments. Both securities, as seen above, require the investor to pay taxes even when the investment is not necessary liquid before maturity. STRIPS are purchased at the secondary market from private brokerages and are mostly derived from treasuries with a maturity of more than ten years. Although Treasury STRIPS are backed by the U.S. government, it cannot be purchased directly from the treasury department.

Stripping Coupons to Form STRIPS

A coupon is said to have been stripped if the interest payment on it has been removed to form a separate security. This act is popularly termed coupon stripping. These new securities are then sold below face value with zero-coupons and are repaid at face value at maturity. An example would be a bond with a nominal value of $20,000, with a maturity length of 5 years and an annual interest rate of 2%. This kind of bond can be stripped as it meets the minimum requirement of ten years. If this is done, then the private brokerage can pull out 10 Treasury STRIPS and one main bond, making it a total of 11 securities. Mathematically, this is: Treasury STRIPS= 2 coupons per year x 5 years =10 coupon-based securities + Main bond = 11 securities. *Coupons are paid semiannually. In a case like this, each STRIPS will have a nominal value of $1000, and each of them will be traded separately in the market, including the main bond.

How Well Are STRIPS Known?

STRIPS are very popular investments and can be said to be on an equal range with notes and bonds in some cases. They are low-risk since theyre backed by the U.S. government, and most of them are sold at discounts which are savoury to investors. Also, the fact that it is a fixed-income security makes it possible to calculate beforehand the payout at maturity. Also, STRIPS are very liquid, so investors can easily sell their shares off the market before maturity if they so wish.

Taxation on STRIPS

STRIPS generally incur income taxes from the government before maturity, even when the profits are generally qualified for capital taxes. However, some accounts (tax-deferred accounts and non-taxable accounts) qualify for tax-free investments. STRIPS investors are updated frequently on the income interest which they earn even before maturity.

References for Treasury STRIPS

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/treasurystrips.asphttps://www.investopedia.com Investing Bonds Fixed Income Essentialswww.mysmp.com Bonds

Academic research for Treasury STRIPS

Liquidity, reconstitution, and the value of US Treasury strips, Daves, P. R., & Ehrhardt, M. C. (1993). Liquidity, reconstitution, and the value of US Treasury strips. The Journal of Finance, 48(1), 315-329. Financial innovation and the role of derivative securities: An empirical analysis of the treasury STRIPS program, Grinblatt, M., & Longstaff, F. A. (2000). Financial innovation and the role of derivative securities: An empirical analysis of the treasury STRIPS program. the Journal of Finance, 55(3), 1415-1436. The relative pricing of US Treasury STRIPS: empirical evidence, Jordan, B. D., Jorgensen, R. D., & Kuipers, D. R. (2000). The relative pricing of US Treasury STRIPS: empirical evidence. Journal of Financial Economics, 56(1), 89-123. Using Treasury STRIPS to measure the yield curve, Sack, B. P. (2000). Using Treasury STRIPS to measure the yield curve Development of the Market for US Treasury STRIPS, Gregory, D. W., & Livingston, M. (1992). Development of the Market for US Treasury STRIPS. Financial Analysts Journal, 48(2), 68-74. A cointegration study of the efficiency of the US Treasury STRIPS market, Kung*, J. J., & Carverhill, A. P. (2005). A cointegration study of the efficiency of the US Treasury STRIPS market. Applied Economics, 37(6), 695-703. An Analysis of the Running Course of Treasury STRIPS, Lin, L. S. Z. (2004). An Analysis of the Running Course of Treasury STRIPS. Finance and Trade Research, (1), 12. The flight-to-liquidity premium in US Treasury bond prices, Longstaff, F. A. (2002). The flight-to-liquidity premium in US Treasury bond prices (No. w9312). National Bureau of Economic Research. Deriving inflation expectations from nominal and inflation-indexed Treasury yields, Sack, B. P. (2000). Deriving inflation expectations from nominal and inflation-indexed Treasury yields. Are negative option prices possible? The callable US Treasury-Bond puzzle, Longstaff, F. A. (1992). Are negative option prices possible? The callable US Treasury-Bond puzzle. Journal of Business, 571-592.