Fed Overnight Reverse Repo Facility (RRPONTSYD)
Daily Federal Reserve Overnight Reverse Repo Facility usage (RRPONTSYD) from FRED, with the modern facility's history from September 2013. The 'parking lot' for excess USD liquidity from money-market funds. The RRP balance went from effectively zero in early 2021 to USD 2.55 trillion at the 30 December 2022 peak (an unprecedented liquidity overhang) and drained back close to zero by late 2025 (latest: USD 2.34 billion on 7 October 2026). The drain offset much of the Fed's QT impact on bank reserves. AUD-trader framing on USD liquidity transmission.
Chart
Daily ON RRP take-up in USD billions (FRED history from 2003; the modern facility dates from September 2013). The 2021-2024 surge and drain are visible as one large hump.
What is the reverse repo facility?
A reverse repo is the mirror of a standard repo. In a standard repo, an investor lends cash and receives securities as collateral; the borrower repurchases the collateral the next day at a slightly higher price (the repo rate). In a reverse repo from the Fed's perspective, the Fed lends Treasuries overnight in exchange for cash and pays the agreed rate on the cash position.
The Fed operates the ON RRP facility daily with a fixed offered rate. Money-market funds, GSEs (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHLBs), and primary dealers are eligible counterparties. The facility is open 1:00-1:15 PM ET. Each counterparty has a daily limit; in aggregate the facility can absorb effectively unlimited cash. The daily total accepted is RRPONTSYD.
Why the RRP drain matters
The Fed's balance sheet has two main liability buckets that absorb the asset side: bank reserves, and the ON RRP. Bank reserves drive monetary policy transmission (banks lend on reserves; reserves support credit creation). The RRP is sterile capital - parked overnight, not deployed.
When QT reduces the asset side of the Fed's balance sheet, the liability side falls by an equal amount. If the fall comes out of RRP (sterile capital exits), monetary conditions barely change. If it comes out of bank reserves (credit-creating capital exits), monetary conditions tighten meaningfully.
From June 2022 to the end of 2024 the Fed's balance sheet shrank by about $2.0T, while RRP take-up fell from about $2.0T (after peaking at $2.55T) to a few hundred billion. Most of the QT drain came out of the sterile RRP pool rather than bank reserves, so most of the tightening in that period came through the Fed Funds rate channel rather than balance-sheet contraction.
Methodology
- Source. FRED series RRPONTSYD (daily ON RRP take-up, USD billions).
- Endpoint. Public fredgraph.csv.
- Recession shading. NBER-dated US recessions (2007-09, 2020).
- Refresh cadence. An automated cloud refresh pulls the series from FRED twice a day (07:30 and 13:30 Sydney time) and the site rebuilds when the data changes. If FRED is unreachable, the last good data is kept.
Related tools
- Fed Balance Sheet (WALCL) - the asset-side total.
- Fed Funds Rate - the policy rate the RRP rate tracks.
- M2 Money Supply - the broader liquidity measure.
- 2Y Treasury Yield - the short-end rate competing with RRP.
Frequently asked questions
The Overnight Reverse Repo (ON RRP) is a Fed-operated facility that lets money-market funds, government-sponsored enterprises, and primary dealers park USD overnight at the Fed in exchange for Treasury collateral. The Fed pays a fixed offered rate, currently set at the bottom of the fed funds target range. It is one of the Fed's monetary policy tools: by adjusting the offered rate, the Fed sets a floor under short-term USD rates. The total daily uptake is FRED series RRPONTSYD.
Three factors. (1) Massive money-market fund AUM growth during COVID (households parked stimulus savings). (2) Treasury bill supply collapsed (the Treasury cut bill issuance as it drew down the Treasury General Account). (3) MMFs had nowhere else to put cash at competitive rates. The Fed's RRP rate (raised from 0 to 5 bps in June 2021, then in step with Fed hikes from March 2022) was suddenly the highest-yielding ultra-safe USD instrument available, and MMFs flooded the facility. Peak balance: $2.554 trillion on 30 December 2022.
Three factors reversing. (1) Treasury bill supply surged starting mid-2023 as the Treasury rebuilt its General Account post debt-ceiling resolution. (2) Bill yields rose above the RRP rate, so MMFs preferred bills. (3) Bank deposits stabilised after the March 2023 banking stress, reducing the demand for parked cash. By December 2025 take-up had fallen close to zero, back near pre-2021 norms (latest: USD 2.34 billion on 7 October 2026), and the drain effectively pushed about $2.5T of liquidity back into bank reserves and bills.
Indirectly through the bank-reserve channel. As RRP balance falls, the funds flow back into bank reserves or T-bills, which compresses funding costs and supports risk-asset valuations. The 2023-2025 RRP drain effectively offset most of the Fed's QT impact on bank reserves, which is part of why the 2022-2024 bear market didn't extend as far as similar QT episodes might have suggested. BTC AUD's recovery from late 2022 to 2026 coincides with the RRP drain.
QT bites harder. Once the RRP cushion is exhausted, every dollar of further Fed balance-sheet contraction comes directly out of bank reserves. The 2019 repo crisis happened when bank reserves got too low, and the Fed has said it wants to avoid a repeat. It ended QT on 1 December 2025, with RRP close to empty, to keep reserves ample.
FRED series RRPONTSYD, sourced from the New York Fed's reverse repo operation results. FRED's series runs from February 2003, but before the ON RRP facility began testing in September 2013 it records only occasional small operations; the chart shows the full series. Daily values in USD billions. An automated refresh pulls it from FRED twice a day (07:30 and 13:30 Sydney time) and the site rebuilds when the data changes; if FRED is unreachable, the last good data is kept.
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