# Treasury bill auction demand | PIER20 benchmarks

How strong is demand at Treasury bill auctions?

Treasury bill auction demand tracks monthly bid-to-cover ratios for six bill tenors. A bid-to-cover above 3. 0 means dealers and investors bid for three times the amount offered. Strong demand. A ratio near 1. 0 means the auction barely covered. The overall line is the median across all bill auctions that month (auction-pooled), so frequent weekly tenors weigh more than the 52-week. 

As of **July 2026**, the latest reading is **2.84 ratio**. That is down 6.4% over the past year and below its long-run median of 2.97 ratio.

## Summary statistics (full history)

| Series | First | Latest | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill demand | 3.46 | 2.84 | 1.90 | 4.88 |
| 4-Week |  | 2.72 | 1.89 | 7.56 |
| 8-Week |  | 2.74 | 2.51 | 4.15 |
| 13-Week | 2.94 | 2.92 | 1.78 | 4.93 |
| 17-Week |  | 3.04 | 2.63 | 3.31 |
| 26-Week | 4.07 | 3.08 | 1.76 | 5.22 |
| 52-Week |  | 3.14 | 1.85 | 5.34 |

## Last 24 readings

| Date | Bill demand | 4-Week | 8-Week | 13-Week | 17-Week | 26-Week | 52-Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2024 | 2.87 | 2.83 | 2.74 | 2.99 | 3.26 | 2.89 | 2.93 |
| Sep 2024 | 2.87 | 2.90 | 2.62 | 2.71 | 2.92 | 3.08 | 3.00 |
| Oct 2024 | 2.92 | 2.82 | 2.72 | 2.93 | 3.05 | 3.15 | 3.25 |
| Nov 2024 | 2.77 | 2.73 | 2.60 | 2.78 | 2.97 | 2.80 | 3.26 |
| Dec 2024 | 2.91 | 2.95 | 2.94 | 2.86 | 2.94 | 3.02 | 3.37 |
| Jan 2025 | 2.98 | 2.88 | 2.81 | 3.05 | 3.19 | 2.98 | 3.14 |
| Feb 2025 | 2.93 | 2.92 | 2.91 | 2.85 | 3.16 | 2.95 | 3.03 |
| Mar 2025 | 3.01 | 3.09 | 2.88 | 2.82 | 3.14 | 3.03 | 3.13 |
| Apr 2025 | 2.94 | 2.93 | 2.97 | 2.98 | 2.92 | 2.80 | 2.94 |
| May 2025 | 2.95 | 2.82 | 2.98 | 2.75 | 3.25 | 3.10 | 3.31 |
| Jun 2025 | 3.04 | 3.19 | 2.97 | 2.99 | 3.04 | 2.74 | 3.22 |
| Jul 2025 | 3.04 | 2.91 | 2.63 | 3.04 | 3.04 | 3.08 | 3.23 |
| Aug 2025 | 2.95 | 2.67 | 2.82 | 2.88 | 3.23 | 3.17 | 2.85 |
| Sep 2025 | 2.92 | 2.67 | 2.77 | 2.96 | 3.16 | 3.01 | 3.37 |
| Oct 2025 | 2.93 | 2.73 | 2.88 | 2.96 | 3.27 | 3.03 | 3.21 |
| Nov 2025 | 2.84 | 2.74 | 2.87 | 2.81 | 3.17 | 2.86 | 3.08 |
| Dec 2025 | 2.96 | 2.97 | 2.92 | 2.73 | 3.11 | 3.01 | 3.74 |
| Jan 2026 | 2.92 | 2.89 | 2.84 | 2.81 | 3.00 | 3.12 | 3.42 |
| Feb 2026 | 2.94 | 2.87 | 2.81 | 2.79 | 3.17 | 3.08 | 2.96 |
| Mar 2026 | 3.03 | 2.96 | 3.12 | 2.92 | 3.12 | 3.03 | 3.43 |
| Apr 2026 | 2.96 | 3.12 | 3.16 | 2.85 | 2.95 | 2.92 | 3.21 |
| May 2026 | 2.91 | 2.63 | 2.84 | 2.97 | 3.17 | 2.85 | 3.41 |
| Jun 2026 | 2.79 | 3.03 | 2.87 | 2.68 | 2.88 | 2.75 | 3.34 |
| Jul 2026 | 2.84 | 2.72 | 2.74 | 2.92 | 3.04 | 3.08 | 3.14 |

## How to read this benchmark

**What a high or low bid-to-cover means.** A high bid-to-cover means demand comfortably exceeds supply. A low reading, particularly near 1. 0, means the auction was under-subscribed. The tenor lines show which part of the bill curve is drawing or losing demand. 

**Limitations.** Bid-to-cover is tendered divided by accepted. It is a demand indicator, not a pure demand index: announced size, reopening structure and bill vs coupon mix also move the ratio. Incomplete months are excluded so each point is a full-month median. Treat the chart as context for bill-market demand, not investment advice. 

## How this benchmark is used

**Front-end funding stress.** Bill demand gave the first signal of the 2019 repo stress and the 2020 dash-for-cash: bid-to-cover ratios dropped sharply. 

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the current treasury bill auction demand?**

As of July 2026, the latest reading is 2.84 ratio. That is down 6.4% over the past year and below its long-run median of 2.97 ratio.

**How often is this benchmark updated?**

This benchmark is built on monthly data. The page is refreshed when the source publishes new observations; the freshness block below the chart shows the exact data-through date and when PIER20 last fetched the file.

**What data sources does this chart use?**

The chart is built from Bill demand, 4-Week, 8-Week, 13-Week, 17-Week, 26-Week and 52-Week, sourced from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Fiscal Data.

**Why exclude CMBs?**

Cash Management Bills are ad-hoc instruments issued outside the regular calendar. 

## Methodology

- Formula: demand = monthly median bid_to_cover per tenor; overall = auction-pooled median across all bill auctions that month (not equal-weight across tenors)
- Frequency: Monthly
- Sources: Bill demand (bill-demand:overall) https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/treasury-securities-auctions-data/; 4-Week (bill-demand:4-week) https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/treasury-securities-auctions-data/; 8-Week (bill-demand:8-week) https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/treasury-securities-auctions-data/; 13-Week (bill-demand:13-week) https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/treasury-securities-auctions-data/; 17-Week (bill-demand:17-week) https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/treasury-securities-auctions-data/; 26-Week (bill-demand:26-week) https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/treasury-securities-auctions-data/; 52-Week (bill-demand:52-week) https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/treasury-securities-auctions-data/. Data via the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Fiscal Data.
- Data through: July 2026
- Last refreshed: 11 Aug 2026

Full interactive chart: https://pier20.com/benchmarks/treasury-bill-auction-demand
Disclaimer: research software output, not investment advice.