basis points
Tiny interest units
A basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point—0.01%.
Financial professionals use basis points to describe small changes in interest rates, bond yields, or other percentages where precision matters: The Fed raised rates by 25 basis points.
The term avoids ambiguity: saying rates rose "from 2% to 2.5%" could mean a 0.5 percentage point increase or a 25% relative increase, but "50 basis points" is unambiguous.
- hundredthsParts per hundred
- interestAttention, stake, or fee
- financeProvide money for
- rateMeasured speed or charge
- securitiesTradeable financial assets
percentage · interest rate · credit rating · trading · discount rate · bond · tick · monetary policy · duration · markets · LIBOR · bps · yield · bond yield · yield curve · economics · loan · fixed income
- Growth Metricsgrowth rate, annual growth, revenue growth, organic growth, rapid growth
- interest ratesinterest rates, prime rate, interest, interest charge, interest income
- FedFederal Reserve, FOMC, monetary policy, interest rates, rate cut
- bankingbank, banks, ATM, ATMs, account
- Wall Streetstock market, bond market, stocks, shares, Wall Street
- bondsbond, corporate bond, corporate bonds, government bond, municipal bond
basis pointspercentage points
Units measuring rate differences
percent · percentages · points · whole numbers · round numbers
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