(ZB) 30 year T Bond

H

hetrazom

I trade the 30 year and 10 year treasury futures contracts. There's 1 issue I dont understand working out the notional value. Lets take the ZB (30 year) as an example. Each increment is 1/32 ($31.25) so say beginning at 135'00 you have $135,000, 135'01 ($135,031.25), 135'02 ($135,062.50) etc. OK so you add another $31.25 to each increment as you go up. Now the problem whether its ZB or ZN (10 year) is what happens when you get to say 135'32? If 135'31 was $135,968.75 and you add another $31.25, you get $136,000. 135'32 and 136'00 cannot be the same so what have I not understood here? Can someone explain? As I see it, '00, '01 , '02 etc. to '31 will give you 32 increments. Why is there a '32? It appears to me '32 should be the same as '00 for the next number as in this example. My charts certainly show increments going from '00 to '32 before reverting to '00.

Yes the 10 year (ZN) uses $15.625 (1/64) but I come to the same dilemma.
 
Where do you get 32?
Can you attach a screenshot?

r013bq.png
 
Here is a snapshot from the ZB 1 hour chart right now, Interactive brokers platform> I have highlighted '31, '32 and '00. ZN has the same thing (with respect to 64 increments instead of 32).
zb.jpg
 
I have just noticed, when you come to trade, it offers you '31 and '00 but no '32. It is just on the charts. I will have to consult IB about this. Has anyone else found this?
 
They should have decimalized ZB decades ago.
0.025 tick increments, so 40 ticks per handle.

And perhaps give ZN a 0.01 tick increment.
 
Last edited:
Americans are used to 1/32th, 1/64th, inches, degree F, ounces, gallons ...

The rest of the world are used to decimal places, meters, degree C, kg, litres ...
 
maxinger said:
Americans are used to 1/32th, 1/64th, inches, degree F, ounces, gallons ...

The rest of the world are used to decimal places, meters, degree C, kg, litres ...
More...
Ironically, all the 1/32s stuff came from the Spanish originally...
 
southall said:
They should have decimalized ZB decades ago. 0.025 tick increments, so 40 ticks per handle. And perhaps give ZN a 0.01 tick increment.
More...
0.02 would make more sense than 0.025, but in any case, they should all be 0.01. Sometimes the market would be multi-ticks wide for size (as is CL, for instance) but that's fine.
 
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