What Is a Bond?

A bond is a fixed income instrument that represents a

loan made by an investor to a borrower (typically corporate
or governmental). A bond could be thought of as an I.O.U. 
to finance projects and operations. Owners of bonds are
debtholders, or creditors between the lender and borrower
that includes the details of the loan and its payments.
Bonds are used by companies, municipalities, states, and
sovereign governments, of the issuer.

Bond details include the end date when

the principal of the loan is due to be paid to the bond
owner and usually include the terms for variable or fixed
interest payments made by the borrower.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

● Bonds are units of corporate debt issued by companies and

securitized as tradeable assets.
● A bond is referred to as a fixed-income instrument since
bonds traditionally paid a fixed interest rate (coupon) to
debtholders. Variable or floating interest rates are also
now quite common.
● Bond prices are inversely correlated with interest rates:
when rates go up, bond prices fall and vice-versa.
● Bonds have maturity dates at which point the principal
amount must be paid back in full or risk default.
The Issuers of Bonds
Governments (at all levels) and corporations commonly use bonds
in order to borrow money. Governments need to fund roads,
schools, dams, or other infrastructure. The sudden expense of
war may also demand the need to raise funds.

Similarly, corporations will often borrow to grow their

business, to buy property and equipment, to undertake profitable
projects, for research and development, or to hire employees.
The problem that large organizations run into is that they
typically need far more money than the average bank can provide.

Bonds provide a solution by allowing many individual investors

to assume the role of the lender. Indeed, public debt markets
let thousands of investors each lend a portion of the capital
needed. Moreover, markets allow lenders to sell their bonds to
other investors or to buy bonds from other individuals—long
after the original issuing organization raised capital.
How Bonds Work
Bonds are commonly referred to as fixed income securities and
are one of the main asset classes that individual investors are
usually familiar with, along with stocks (equities) and cash
equivalents.

Many corporate and government bonds are publicly traded; others

are traded only over-the-counter (OTC) or privately between the
borrower and lender.

When companies or other entities need to raise money to finance

new projects, maintain ongoing operations, or refinance existing
debts, they may issue bonds directly to investors. The borrower
(issuer) issues a bond that includes the terms of the loan,
interest payments that will be made, and the time at which the
loaned funds (bond principal) must be paid back (maturity date).
The interest payment (the coupon) is part of the return that
bondholders earn for loaning their funds to the issuer. The
interest rate that determines the payment is called the coupon
rate.

The initial price of most bonds is typically set at par, usually

$100 or $1,000 face value per individual bond. The actual market
price of a bond depends on a number of factors: the credit
quality of the issuer, the length of time until expiration, and
the coupon rate compared to the general interest rate
environment at the time. The face value of the bond is what will
be paid back to the borrower once the bond matures.

Most bonds can be sold by the initial bondholder to other

investors after they have been issued. In other words, a bond
investor does not have to hold a bond all the way through to its
maturity date. It is also common for bonds to be repurchased by
the borrower if interest rates decline, or if the borrower’s
credit has improved, and it can reissue new bonds at a lower
cost.

Characteristics of Bonds
Most bonds share some common basic characteristics including:

● Face value is the money amount the bond will be worth at maturity; it is
also the reference amount the bond issuer uses when calculating interest
payments. For example, say an investor purchases a bond at a premium of
 $1,090 and another investor buys the same bond later when it is trading at
a discount for $980. When the bond matures, both investors will receive
the $1,000 face value of the bond.
● The coupon rate is the rate of interest the bond issuer will pay on the face
value of the bond, expressed as a percentage. For example, a 5% coupon
rate means that bondholders will receive 5% x $1000 face value = $50
every year.
● Coupon dates are the dates on which the bond issuer will make interest
payments. Payments can be made in any interval, but the standard is
semiannual payments.
● The maturity date is the date on which the bond will mature and the bond
issuer will pay the bondholder the face value of the bond.
● The issue price is the price at which the bond issuer originally sells the
bonds.

Two features of a bond—credit quality and time to maturity—are the principal

determinants of a bond's coupon rate. If the issuer has a poor credit rating,
the risk of default is greater, and these bonds pay more interest. Bonds that have
a very long maturity date also usually pay a higher interest rate. This higher
compensation is because the bondholder is more exposed to interest rate and
inflation risks for an extended period.

Credit ratings for a company and its bonds are generated by credit rating
agencies like Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch Ratings. The very highest
quality bonds are called “investment grade” and include debt issued by the U.S.
government and very stable companies, like many utilities.

Bonds that are not considered investment grade, but are not in default, are called
“high yield” or “junk” bonds. These bonds have a higher risk of default in the
future and investors demand a higher coupon payment to compensate them for
that risk.

Bonds and bond portfolios will rise or fall in value as interest rates change. The
sensitivity to changes in the interest rate environment is called “duration.” The
use of the term duration in this context can be confusing to new bond investors
because it does not refer to the length of time the bond has before maturity.
Instead, duration describes how much a bond’s price will rise or fall with a
change in interest rates.

The rate of change of a bond’s or bond portfolio’s sensitivity to interest rates

(duration) is called “convexity.” These factors are difficult to calculate, and the
analysis required is usually done by professionals.
Categories of Bonds
There are four primary categories of bonds sold in the markets. However, you
may also see foreign bonds issued by corporations and governments on some
platforms.

● Corporate bonds are issued by companies. Companies issue bonds

rather than seek bank loans for debt financing in many cases because
bond markets offer more favorable terms and lower interest rates.
● Municipal bonds are issued by states and municipalities. Some municipal
bonds offer tax-free coupon income for investors.
● Government bonds such as those issued by the U.S. Treasury. Bonds
issued by the Treasury with a year or less to maturity are called “Bills”;
bonds issued with 1–10 years to maturity are called “notes”; and bonds
issued with more than 10 years to maturity are called “bonds.” The entire
category of bonds issued by a government treasury is often collectively
referred to as "treasuries." Government bonds issued by national
governments may be referred to as sovereign debt.
● Agency bonds are those issued by government-affiliated organizations
such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Varieties of Bonds
The bonds available for investors come in many different varieties. They can be
separated by the rate or type of interest or coupon payment, being recalled by
the issuer, or have other attributes.

Zero-Coupon Bonds
Zero-coupon bonds do not pay coupon payments and instead are issued at a
discount to their par value that will generate a return once the bondholder is paid
the full face value when the bond matures. U.S. Treasury bills are a zero-coupon
bond.

Convertible Bonds
Convertible bonds are debt instruments with an embedded option that allows
bondholders to convert their debt into stock (equity) at some point, depending on
certain conditions like the share price. For example, imagine a company that
needs to borrow $1 million to fund a new project. They could borrow by issuing
bonds with a 12% coupon that matures in 10 years. However, if they knew that
there were some investors willing to buy bonds with an 8% coupon that allowed
them to convert the bond into stock if the stock’s price rose above a certain
value, they might prefer to issue those.
The convertible bond may be the best solution for the company because they
would have lower interest payments while the project was in its early stages. If
the investors converted their bonds, the other shareholders would be diluted, but
the company would not have to pay any more interest or the principal of the
bond.

The investors who purchased a convertible bond may think this is a great
solution because they can profit from the upside in the stock if the project is
successful. They are taking more risk by accepting a lower coupon payment, but
the potential reward if the bonds are converted could make that trade-off
acceptable.

Callable Bonds
Callable bonds also have an embedded option but it is different than what is
found in a convertible bond. A callable bond is one that can be “called” back by
the company before it matures. Assume that a company has borrowed $1 million
by issuing bonds with a 10% coupon that mature in 10 years. If interest rates
decline (or the company’s credit rating improves) in year 5 when the company
could borrow for 8%, they will call or buy the bonds back from the bondholders
for the principal amount and reissue new bonds at a lower coupon rate.

A callable bond is riskier for the bond buyer because the bond is more likely to be
called when it is rising in value. Remember, when interest rates are falling, bond
prices rise. Because of this, callable bonds are not as valuable as bonds that
aren’t callable with the same maturity, credit rating, and coupon rate.

Puttable Bond
A puttable bond allows the bondholders to put or sell the bond back to the
company before it has matured. This is valuable for investors who are worried
that a bond may fall in value, or if they think interest rates will rise and they want
to get their principal back before the bond falls in value.

The bond issuer may include a put option in the bond that benefits the
bondholders in return for a lower coupon rate or just to induce the bond sellers to
make the initial loan. A puttable bond usually trades at a higher value than a
bond without a put option but with the same credit rating, maturity, and coupon
rate because it is more valuable to the bondholders.

The possible combinations of embedded puts, calls, and convertibility rights in a

bond are endless and each one is unique. There isn’t a strict standard for each of
these rights and some bonds will contain more than one kind of “option” which
can make comparisons difficult. Generally, individual investors rely on bond
professionals to select individual bonds or bond funds that meet their investing
goals.

Pricing Bonds
The market prices bonds based on their particular characteristics. A bond's price
changes on a daily basis, just like that of any other publicly traded security,
where supply and demand in any given moment determine that observed price.

But there is a logic to how bonds are valued. Up to this point, we've talked about
bonds as if every investor holds them to maturity. It's true that if you do this
you're guaranteed to get your principal back plus interest; however, a bond does
not have to be held to maturity. At any time, a bondholder can sell their bonds in
the open market, where the price can fluctuate, sometimes dramatically.

The price of a bond changes in response to changes in interest rates in the

economy. This is due to the fact that for a fixed-rate bond, the issuer has
promised to pay a coupon based on the face value of the bond—so for a
$1,000 par, 10% annual coupon bond, the issuer will pay the bondholder $100
each year.

Say that prevailing interest rates are also 10% at the time that this bond is
issued, as determined by the rate on a short-term government bond. An investor
would be indifferent to investing in the corporate bond or the government bond
since both would return $100. However, imagine a little while later, that the
economy has taken a turn for the worse and interest rates dropped to 5%. Now,
the investor can only receive $50 from the government bond, but would still
receive $100 from the corporate bond.

This difference makes the corporate bond much more attractive. So investors in
the market will bid up to the price of the bond until it trades at a premium that
equalizes the prevailing interest rate environment—in this case, the bond will
trade at a price of $2,000 so that the $100 coupon represents 5%. Likewise, if
interest rates soared to 15%, then an investor could make $150 from the
government bond and would not pay $1,000 to earn just $100. This bond would
be sold until it reached a price that equalized the yields, in this case to a price of
$666.67.

Inverse to Interest Rates

This is why the famous statement that a bond’s price varies inversely with
interest rates works. When interest rates go up, bond prices fall in order to have
the effect of equalizing the interest rate on the bond with prevailing rates, and
vice versa.
Another way of illustrating this concept is to consider what the yield on our bond
would be given a price change, instead of given an interest rate change. For
example, if the price were to go down from $1,000 to $800, then the yield goes
up to 12.5%. This happens because you are getting the same guaranteed $100
on an asset that is worth $800 ($100/$800). Conversely, if the bond goes up in
price to $1,200, the yield shrinks to 8.33% ($100/$1,200).

Yield-to-Maturity (YTM)
The yield-to-maturity (YTM) of a bond is another way of considering a bond’s
price. YTM is the total return anticipated on a bond if the bond is held until the
end of its lifetime. Yield to maturity is considered a long-term bond yield but is
expressed as an annual rate. In other words, it is the internal rate of return of an
investment in a bond if the investor holds the bond until maturity and if all
payments are made as scheduled.

YTM is a complex calculation but is quite useful as a concept evaluating the

attractiveness of one bond relative to other bonds of different coupons and
maturity in the market. The formula for YTM involves solving for the interest rate
in the following equation, which is no easy task, and therefore most bond
investors interested in YTM will use a computer:

We can also measure the anticipated changes in bond prices given a change in
interest rates with a measure known as the duration of a bond. Duration is
expressed in units of the number of years since it originally referred
to zero-coupon bonds, whose duration is its maturity.

For practical purposes, however, duration represents the price change in a bond
given a 1% change in interest rates. We call this second, more practical definition
the modified duration of a bond.

The duration can be calculated to determine the price sensitivity to interest rate
changes of a single bond, or for a portfolio of many bonds. In general, bonds with
long maturities, and also bonds with low coupons have the greatest sensitivity to
interest rate changes. A bond’s duration is not a linear risk measure, meaning
that as prices and rates change, the duration itself changes,
and convexity measures this relationship.

Real-World Bond Example

A bond represents a promise by a borrower to pay a lender their principal and
usually interest on a loan. Bonds are issued by governments, municipalities, and
corporations. The interest rate (coupon rate), principal amount, and maturities will
vary from one bond to the next in order to meet the goals of the bond issuer
(borrower) and the bond buyer (lender). Most bonds issued by companies
include options that can increase or decrease their value and can make
comparisons difficult for non-professionals. Bonds can be bought or sold before
they mature, and many are publicly listed and can be traded with a broker.

While governments issue many bonds, corporate bonds can be purchased from
brokerages. If you're interested in this investment, you'll need to pick a broker.
You can take a look at Investopedia's list of the best online stock brokers to get
an idea of which brokers best fit your needs. 

Because fixed-rate coupon bonds will pay the same percentage of their face
value over time, the market price of the bond will fluctuate as that coupon
becomes more or less attractive compared to the prevailing interest rates.

Imagine a bond that was issued with a coupon rate of 5% and a $1,000 par
value. The bondholder will be paid $50 in interest income annually (most bond
coupons are split in half and paid semiannually). As long as nothing else
changes in the interest rate environment, the price of the bond should remain at
its par value.

However, if interest rates begin to decline and similar bonds are now issued with
a 4% coupon, the original bond has become more valuable. Investors who want
a higher coupon rate will have to pay extra for the bond in order to entice the
original owner to sell. The increased price will bring the bond’s total yield down to
4% for new investors because they will have to pay an amount above par value
to purchase the bond.

On the other hand, if interest rates rise and the coupon rate for bonds like this
one rises to 6%, the 5% coupon is no longer attractive. The bond’s price will
decrease and begin selling at a discount compared to the par value until its
effective return is 6%.

How do bonds work?

Bonds are a type of security sold by governments and corporations, as a way of
raising money from investors. From the seller’s perspective, selling bonds is
therefore a way of borrowing money. From the buyer’s perspective, buying bonds
is a form of investment because it entitles the purchaser to guaranteed
repayment of principal as well as a stream of interest payments. Some types of
bonds also offer other benefits, such as the ability to convert the bond into shares
in the issuing company’s stock.
The bond market tends to move inversely with interest rates because bonds will
trade at a discount when interest rates are rising and at a premium when interest
rates are falling.

What is an example of a bond?

To illustrate, consider the case of XYZ Corporation. XYZ wishes to borrow $1
million to finance construction of a new factory, but is unable to obtain this
financing from a bank. Instead, XYZ decides to raise the money by selling $1
million worth of bonds to investors. Under the terms of the bond, XYZ promises
to pay its bondholders 5% interest per year for 5 years, with interest paid
semiannually. Each of the bonds has a face value of $1,000, meaning XYZ is
selling a total of 1,000 bonds.

What are some different types of bonds?

The example above is for a typical bond, but there are many special types of
bonds available. For example, zero-coupon bonds do not pay interest payments
during the term of the bond. Instead, their par value—the amount they pay back
to the investor at the end of the term—is greater than the amount paid by the
investor when they purchased the bond.

Convertible bonds, on the other hand, give the bondholder the right to exchange
their bond for shares of the issuing company, if certain targets are reached. Many
other types of bonds exist, offering features related to tax planning, inflation
hedging, and others.