Treasury STRIPS
Treasury STRIPS are zero-coupon securities created by separating eligible Treasury principal and interest payments into tradable claims.
Understand Treasury STRIPS, zero-coupon cash flows, principal and coupon strips, historical receipts, duration, and tax accrual.
Treasury STRIPS convert the remaining principal and coupon payments of an eligible Treasury security into separate zero-coupon claims. Each component has one contractual payment date, making its cash flow simple while often making its market price highly sensitive to yield changes.
The detailed Treasury STRIPS guide covers current mechanics, principal and coupon strips, reassembly, pricing, duration, custody, and tax reporting. Historical labels such as CATS, M-CATS, and TIGRs are treated there as receipt-market history rather than separate modern product pages.
| Feature | Analytical consequence |
|---|---|
| No interim coupon | No coupon reinvestment before maturity |
| One dated maturity payment | Can be aligned with a known future liability |
| Long time to payment | High duration and substantial price sensitivity |
| Discount accretion | Federal OID may be reportable before cash is received |
| Dealer-based custody | STRIPS are not stripped, reassembled, or held through TreasuryDirect |
| Fixed future dollars | Purchasing power remains exposed to inflation unless the component is inflation-linked |
A STRIP is not the same as a Treasury bill. A bill is issued directly as short-term discount debt. A STRIP is created from an eligible Treasury note, bond, or TIPS payment and may mature many years later.
A principal strip pays the original security’s principal on its maturity date. A coupon strip pays one separated interest amount on that coupon date. If a bond has 10 years remaining, its 20 semiannual coupons and principal can become 21 separate securities.
The components may be reassembled only when an eligible intermediary has all remaining pieces required to restore the original security. Investors should identify the exact CUSIP and payment date rather than rely on a generic “Treasury zero” label.
Before the official book-entry STRIPS framework became the standard reference, brokers created receipts backed by Treasury cash flows. Names such as Certificates of Accrual on Treasury Securities and Treasury Investment Growth Receipts describe that history. They should not be read as current Treasury auction categories.
This section is educational and does not recommend a STRIP, maturity, intermediary, liability strategy, or tax treatment.
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Treasury STRIPS are zero-coupon securities created by separating eligible Treasury principal and interest payments into tradable claims.