Bond price & yield
Understand why a bond you already own falls in value when interest rates rise, and why a "safe" debt fund can post a negative year.
Runs entirely in your browserRuns entirely on your device — nothing you type is sent anywhere. Educational only, and not investment advice.
How to use this calculator
Each step names a control you will find on screen above.
- Coupon on your bond
The fixed annual interest your bond pays. It never changes — that is the whole point, and the whole problem.
- Market yield today
What newly issued bonds of the same quality now pay. Drag this above the coupon and watch your bond’s price fall.
- Years to maturity
The single biggest driver of how violently the price moves. Compare a 3-year against a 20-year at the same yield change.
- Read the duration figure
Duration is roughly the percentage the price moves for a one-point change in yield. It is the number that tells you how much risk a "safe" fund is carrying.
Worked example: A 6% bond when rates rise to 8%
You hold a bond paying 6% a year with ten years left. Rates rise and new bonds of the same quality now pay 8%.
What to enter
- Coupon on your bond
- 6%
- Market yield today
- 8%
- Years to maturity
- 10
What it shows you
- Price
- ≈ ₹86.6 per ₹100 face
- Approximate duration
- ≈ 7 years
- Same bond with 3 years left
- ≈ ₹94.8
- Held to maturity
- ₹100 back
a 13% capital loss
only a 5% fall
the loss is only real if you sell
Where this is taught
A calculator gives you a number. These explain what the number means and when it misleads you.
- Market Basics12 minBonds and fixed incomeWhy bond prices move opposite to rates, what duration and credit risk actually mean, and how to buy government securities directly in India.
- Market Basics11 minCorporate FDs and NCDs: extra yield, extra riskTwo percentage points more than a bank deposit, for reasons. What the rating means, what "secured" actually secures, and where these belong.
- Market Basics11 minCurrency and commodity markets in IndiaWhat trades on MCX and the currency segment, why the rupee and crude move your equity portfolio, and why most investors should watch these markets without trading them.
- Market Basics12 minDebt funds: credit risk, duration and the tax changeThe category most investors hold without understanding. Two risks, sixteen sub-categories, and why the 2023 tax change altered where they belong.
- Market Basics11 minFixed deposits and small savings schemesFDs, RDs, SCSS, SSY and post office schemes — what each is genuinely good for, how tax changes the answer, and the real return once inflation is counted.