Maturity ladder
How much of a bond holding falls due in each stretch of years left: under one year, one to three, three to five, five to ten, ten to twenty and over twenty.
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How it is computed here
Each Treasury you hold goes into the stretch that matches the years left until its maturity date, with the share of the bond money it represents; the Risk tab adds it to the ladders the bond funds you hold report in their own filings, in one ladder. The ladder is by years left, not by duration, and it shows when principal is due back.
Worked example
- Four real Treasuries, 10,000 of face value of each, valued on the curve of 2 Oct 2026: by years left until maturity, 1–3 years 25.7%, 3–5 years 25.7%, 5–10 years 24.6%, over 20 years 24.0%.
- Weighted average life, each bond weighted by its value: 11.4 years.
- The change for 0.01 point of yield is 1.88, 4.36, 7.39, 13.57 for each; the longest, 24% of the money, carries 50% of the total.
Real Treasuries valued today on the Treasury's par curve: our estimates, not dealer quotes, and no yield here is a return anyone is owed. The demo holds none; signed in with a Treasury of your own, this is worked on yours.
Where it misleads
A ladder says when principal comes back, not how much the price moves: the long stretches carry far more rate sensitivity per dollar than the short ones, which is why the change for a one-point rise is shown beside it. An even ladder does not mean an even exposure to rates.
The formula
- wi — the share of the bond money that bond i represents (its value over the total);
- Ti — the years left until bond i's maturity date;
- Weighted average life — the average years left, weighted by value.
A worked example on a real Treasury
Four Treasuries, 10,000 of face value of each, valued on the curve of 1 October 2026: the 2-year note UST 4.750% 2028-09-30 (9,995.74), the 5-year note UST 5.000% 2031-09-30 (9,997.02), the 10-year note UST 4.625% 2036-08-15 (9,589.61) and the 30-year bond UST 5.125% 2056-08-15 (9,360.23); total 38,942.60. By years left: 1 to 3 years, 25.7 %; 3 to 5, 25.7 %; 5 to 10, 24.6 %; over 20, 24.0 %. Weighted average life: 11.4 years. The change for 0.01 point of yield is 1.88, 4.37, 7.41 and 13.64 for each: the bond over 20 years, 24 % of the money, carries about half of the total, 27.30. A nearly even ladder, an uneven sensitivity. All figures are our estimates from the Treasury curve, not dealer quotes.
What this page does not do
It does not say whether a ladder is good or bad, and it does not propose one: it describes what you hold. A Treasury has no early repayment, so its stated maturity is when its principal returns.
Compared with
- Key-rate durations — where along the curve each bond's sensitivity sits
- Modified duration — the sensitivity that the ladder does not show
- Average stated maturity — the same ladder, for the bonds inside a bond fund
Questions people ask
Does an even ladder mean even exposure to rates?
No. In the example the four bonds hold about a quarter of the money each, but the 30-year bond carries about half of the sensitivity to a move in yields, because a long bond's price reacts far more.
Is the ladder the same for funds and for single bonds?
The Risk tab adds them into one ladder. A fund's ladder comes from what the fund reports in its own filing; a Treasury's, from its own maturity date.
Sources
Last reviewed 2026-10-02 by Sphinx Risk.