US 30-year Treasury futures are dated contracts backed by deliverable Treasury securities. The chart shows price points, not yield: prices generally rise as yields fall. The conventional bond contract delivers bonds with 15 to less than 25 years remaining, despite the common thirty-year label. The series follows successive front contracts and reflects long-run inflation expectations and bond supply and demand.
History and development
Treasury futures developed within the financial-futures markets of the 1970s, meeting demand to manage changes in bond prices through standardized contracts. Treasury bond futures arrived in 1977. This is a history of trading interest-rate risk, separate from the history of government borrowing.
Trading expanded from exchange floors to electronic markets, allowing international participation beyond US cash-market hours. The conventional bond contract delivers bonds with 15 to less than 25 years remaining, despite the common thirty-year label. A futures expiry and a bond maturity are different concepts; switching the representative contract is part of a continuous price series.
References: CME: Treasury futures · CME: first trade dates
Comparing charts on this board
Put the US 30-year yield beside its futures price and compare the timing of rising yields and falling prices, or falling yields and rising prices. Their percentage changes are not equivalent: one describes a yield and the other a price. Maturity exposure and delivery rules also affect the response.
Compare the four futures tenors to identify strength at the short or long end. Add the S&P 500 to separate shared stock-and-bond gains from stock declines accompanied by bond gains. The chart displays the latest trading session rather than joining overnight contract-roll gaps into an intraday move.
Related charts: US 30Y Yield · S&P 500 · TLT
Official references: CME: Treasury futures · CME: first trade dates