// definition
Repo
Repurchase agreement
Short definition
The sale of a security with an agreement to repurchase it on agreed terms. Economically, it provides financing secured by that security. A repo can be overnight, longer term or open-ended; the repo rate and the collateral haircut are distinct parameters.
risk atlas
Knowledge map
Intuition
Repo says how public debt funds itself day to day once it becomes collateral.
Formula
cash today against a security, then repurchase at the agreed maturity and priceWhy it matters now
Repo connects Treasuries, hedge funds, banks and money market funds. A collateral squeeze can turn a rate move into a liquidity problem.
Related analyses
- Sovereign debt: the buyer of last resort
- Government debt: the collateral chain
- Banks: the cost of the December snapshot
- The Treasury basis tradeLeverage, repo and bond-market fragility.
- Repo, the liquidity factoryFunding chains that transmit a rate shock.
- Gilts, repo and leverageTransmission of a rate shock through funding.
- Russia’s 2027 budget: defence, debt and banks
Related guides
- Reading the Treasuries marketCurve, auctions, holders and the term premium.
- Net liquidity: TGA, RRPReserve channels and Treasury cash.
Related datasets
- risk.jsonPublic snapshot of the risk signals.
- debt-risk.jsonDebt Risk Radar snapshot with provenance.
- risk-diff.json1, 7 and 30-day diff of signals, sources and models.
- signals/history.jsonPoint-in-time history of the signals.
Signals using it
- MethodologyDebt, interest burden, current stress and structural vulnerability.
- Risk DiffRecent change in risk and source freshness.
- Black Box RecorderHashed frames to replay a point-in-time state.
Primary sources
- Federal Reserve & FREDRates, the Fed balance sheet, FRED series and the New York Fed ACM model.
- U.S. Treasury Fiscal DataDebt, Treasury cash, DTS and auctions.
- U.S. Treasury TICCross-border holdings and flows of Treasuries.
- Congress.gov, GovInfo & CBOBudget projections, texts and estimates.
- Bank for International SettlementsGlobal debt, banks and market fragilities.