treasury bills 4 weeks not always available?

[rotLobster]

I set up an account at Fidelity to be used to park cash. I have over 100k in a checking account that pays little interest. this account has grown over the years. its main purpose is as an emergency fund and to bridge me from my current age, 66 to 70 when i will draw SS if i loose my current job.

my intent is to distribute this amongst a series of 4 week T-bills. But when i go to see what is available for the next auction, there are no 4 week tbills, only longer term buys. Im new to this so i dont quite understand. are they 'sold-out' or not issued for next week and so forth. what is the best way to keep up with the availability of t-bills and so forth.

thanks for any info.

[livesoft]

A very good way is to call up Fidelity and state your questions and concerns.

You may also search on "treasury bill auction announcement site:bogleheads.org"

viewtopic.php?t=244645

[jalbert]

You could just put this in the Vanguard Treasury Money Market fund VUSXX and pay Vanguard 9 bp/year to manage it for you. 7-day SEC yield is 1.89% compounding to 1.91%.

[asif408]

Try this link: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/i ... m?upcoming. Looks like an auction on 8/14, announcement will be 8/13.

[livesoft]

There are many "convenient" ways to get T-bills. For instance, there are ETFs that hold only T-bills such as BIL. Fully liquid while the stock market is open. You do pay for the convenience though.

[SpaethCo]

The piece you're missing is the treasury auction calendar: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-cente ... ctions.pdf

Each treasury type will only show up as new issues in Fidelity on the "Announcement Date" and will drop out of the list on the "Auction Date."

So 13 and 26 week T-bills will show up sometime on Thursday, and then drop out of the list shortly before the auction on Monday. 4 week T-bills will show up sometime on Monday afternoon and drop out of the list before the Tuesday auction.

[rotLobster]

The piece you're missing is the treasury auction calendar: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-cente ... ctions.pdf

Each treasury type will only show up as new issues in Fidelity on the "Announcement Date" and will drop out of the list on the "Auction Date."

So 13 and 26 week T-bills will show up sometime on Thursday, and then drop out of the list shortly before the auction on Monday. 4 week T-bills will show up sometime on Monday afternoon and drop out of the list before the Tuesday auction.

thank you, this is the answer to the question i was asking. I know about the other methods for achieving approximately the same result but im specifically interested in short term t-bills in this instance.

[Nate79]

Why are you only looking at new issue tbills?

[Dottie57]

The piece you're missing is the treasury auction calendar: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-cente ... ctions.pdf

Each treasury type will only show up as new issues in Fidelity on the "Announcement Date" and will drop out of the list on the "Auction Date."

So 13 and 26 week T-bills will show up sometime on Thursday, and then drop out of the list shortly before the auction on Monday. 4 week T-bills will show up sometime on Monday afternoon and drop out of the list before the Tuesday auction.

So how do you buy the TBills if they disappear on auction day? Do I buy on announcement day?

[SpaethCo]

So how do you buy the TBills if they disappear on auction day? Do I buy on announcement day?

4 week treasuries only have about a 24 hour window between announcement and auction, so yeah, you’d probably want to get your order submitted the evening of the announcement date to ensure you don’t miss the cutoff the next day.

You’re placing a non-competitive bid order, so you’re going to get the same price whether you submit that order 1 second after announcement or 1 second before the cutoff.

[Dottie57]

So how do you buy the TBills if they disappear on auction day? Do I buy on announcement day?

4 week treasuries only have about a 24 hour window between announcement and auction, so yeah, you’d probably want to get your order submitted the evening of the announcement date to ensure you don’t miss the cutoff the next day.

You’re placing a non-competitive bid order, so you’re going to get the same price whether you submit that order 1 second after announcement or 1 second before the cutoff.

Thank you!