Basis point calculator
Four small calculators for the arithmetic every rate desk does by hand: convert a quote, price a move in dollars, measure the gap between two rates, and see what one basis point is worth per period.
A basis point is one hundredth of one percent, and most errors in rate work come from moving that decimal in the wrong direction or forgetting which day count turns an annual rate into dollars. This page puts the four conversions a treasury analyst, loan officer or credit trader needs into one card, pre-filled with real SOFR moves so you can check each answer against the explanation below it.
Basis point calculator
1. Convert basis points, percent and decimal
2. Dollar value of N basis points over a period
3. Difference between two rates in basis points
Optional: fill either rate from the New York Fed snapshot.
4. Dollar value of 1 bp per period
| Period | Ends | Actual days | ACT/360 | ACT/365F | 30/360 Bond Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calculating… | |||||
Features
- Three-way unit conversion. Type a value in basis points, percent or decimal and see the other two, plus what that rate earns on $1 million over one full year of accrual. Fractional basis points carry through to at least three decimal places, enough for the fifth-decimal SOFR Averages.
- Dollar value of any move. Price N basis points on a balance between two dates under ACT/360, ACT/365 Fixed, ACT/ACT ISDA, 30/360 Bond Basis or 30E/360, with the year fraction shown so you can audit it. A zero-day 30/360 count is flagged.
- Rate gaps from real prints. Pull SOFR, TGCR, BGCR or EFFR for any two dates in the snapshot and get the difference in basis points, percentage points and relative terms. Mix series to measure a spread, such as SOFR minus EFFR on the same day.
- Per-period basis point value table. One day, one week, one, three and six months and one year, side by side under three day counts, downloadable as CSV.
- Negative values handled. A rate falling from 1.10% to 0.26% reads as −84 bp, not 84, and the dollar value carries the sign.
How to use the basis point calculator
- To convert a quote, type it in panel 1 and say which unit it is in. A loan margin quoted as "SOFR + 2.25%" becomes 225 bp and 0.0225.
- To price a move, enter the basis points and the balance in panel 2, then the accrual dates and the day count your contract uses. The New York Fed's SOFR Averages and Index compound on actual days over a 360-day year, so ACT/360 is the default here.
- To measure a gap, type two rates in panel 3, or pick a series and a date for each and press Fill rates from data. If a date has no publication, the calculator uses the last published value before it and says so under the input; dates up to a week past the snapshot's end use its latest value. EFFR has values on some SIFMA full-close days when SOFR, TGCR and BGCR do not, such as April 3, 2026, so a same-date SOFR-minus-EFFR fill then compares the prior day's SOFR with that day's EFFR.
- To see what one basis point is worth on your book, set the balance and start date in panel 4. Change the basis points to price a larger shift across every period at once, then download the table if you need it in a spreadsheet.
How the arithmetic works
The formulas
Every panel is a rearrangement of the same three identities. One percent is one hundredth; one basis point is one hundredth of one percent.
The year fraction is where answers diverge. Panel 4's defaults put $25,000,000 on a period starting October 9, 2026; the three-month row ends January 9, 2027, 92 actual days later. ACT/360 gives 92 ÷ 360 = 0.25556 of a year, so 1 bp is worth $638.89 (25,000,000 × 0.0001 × 92 ÷ 360). ACT/365 Fixed gives 0.25205 and $630.14. 30/360 counts the same three calendar months as exactly 90 days, or 0.25, and $625.00. The $13.89 between the highest and lowest answer is the day-count effect alone, and it grows in proportion to the balance and the basis points. The day-count logic is shared with the day count calculator, which shows accrual days and year fractions under each convention.
Basis points versus percentage points
"Rates rose 23 bp" and "rates rose 0.23 percentage points" say the same thing. "Rates rose 0.23%" is ambiguous, because a reader can take it as a relative change. Panel 3 shows both readings so the difference is visible: SOFR moving from 3.62% to 3.85% is +23 bp, but a 6.35% relative increase. Rate desks quote changes in basis points precisely to avoid that confusion.
How SOFR is rounded, and why it matters for basis point math
The New York Fed calculates SOFR as a volume-weighted median of overnight Treasury repo trades, and at publication "the volume-weighted median is rounded to the nearest basis point." Daily SOFR therefore always has exactly two decimals in percent, and every day-to-day change is a whole number of basis points. TGCR, BGCR and EFFR follow the same rounding. The New York Fed revises a published rate only when the correction "exceeds one basis point", and only on the day of first publication. The methodology guide covers the median calculation in detail.
The compounded products are finer. The 30-, 90- and 180-day SOFR Averages are published as percentages "rounded to the fifth decimal place", which is a thousandth of a basis point, and the SOFR Index is rounded to the eighth decimal place. So averages move in fractional basis points. The 30-day Average SOFR was 3.80800% on October 8, 2026 and 3.81569% on October 9, 2026: a change of +0.769 bp. Daily SOFR for October 8 was 3.87%, so the 30-day average published the next day sat 5.431 bp below the latest overnight print. Panel 1 carries three decimals of a basis point for exactly this reason.
The same precision applies to the fixed spread adjustments that replaced USD LIBOR. The 3-month adjustment fixed on March 5, 2021 is 0.26161%, which is 26.161 bp, not 26 bp. On a $100 million loan for a 90-day ACT/360 period, the 0.161 bp difference is worth $402.50, small per period but systematic across a portfolio. The LIBOR fallback calculator applies the tenor spreads.
Worked examples from real SOFR moves
September 17, 2019: +282 bp in one day
Worked exampleSOFR was 2.43% for Monday, September 16, 2019 and 5.25% for Tuesday, September 17, 2019. That is (5.25 − 2.43) × 100 = +282 bp, the largest one-day rise in the published series. The federal funds target range at the time was 2.00%–2.25%, so SOFR printed 300 bp above the top of the range, and the 99th volume-weighted percentile rate that day was 9.00%.
What did that cost a borrower? On a $100,000,000 balance for one night at ACT/360: 100,000,000 × 0.0282 × 1 ÷ 360 = $7,833.33 of extra interest, on top of what September 16's rate would have charged. One basis point on the same balance for one night is worth $27.777… (shown as $27.78), and 282 × $27.777… gives the same figure. These are the defaults in panels 2 and 3. The next day SOFR fell back to 2.55%, a move of −270 bp.
In a loan that compounds SOFR in arrears, a one-day spike is diluted across the interest period. A 282 bp jump on one day of a 92-day quarter adds roughly 282 × 1 ÷ 92 ≈ 3 bp to that period's average rate before compounding effects. The rate shock calculator shows what a sustained 25, 50 or 100 bp move does to annual interest, and the spikes and month-end guide puts this day in context.
September 17, 2026: a 25 bp policy move, a 23 bp SOFR move
The federal funds target range changed from 3.50%–3.75% to 3.75%–4.00% effective September 17, 2026, a 25 bp shift. EFFR went from 3.63% to 3.88%, also +25 bp. SOFR went from 3.62% to 3.85%, a rise of 23 bp. Set panel 3 to EFFR on both dates, then SOFR on both dates, to reproduce the two gaps. Secured and unsecured rates need not move one-for-one with the policy range.
Had that 23 bp increase held for a full 92-day quarter on a $25,000,000 floating-rate loan, the extra interest at ACT/360 would be 25,000,000 × 0.0023 × 92 ÷ 360 = $14,694.44. Enter 23 in panel 4's basis points field to see the same figure in the three-month row.
Limits of this calculatorResults are estimates for checking and planning; your loan agreement, note terms or ISDA confirmation govern the actual amount, including its day count, rounding and business-day rules. The dollar values here are not compounded and do not adjust for amortization, payment delays, lookbacks, floors or holiday rolls. Rates pulled from data are the New York Fed's published values in this site's dated snapshot, not live quotes.
This tool treats basis points as simple interest on a fixed balance. That is the right answer for pricing a margin change, a spread or a one-period move. If you need SOFR compounded day by day over an actual period, use the compounded SOFR calculator or the SOFR Index calculator. For a full loan with amortization and a margin, use the floating-rate loan calculator. The spread tracker charts SOFR against the other overnight benchmarks over time.
Frequently asked questions
- How many basis points are in 1%?
- 100. One basis point is 0.01%, or 0.0001 as a decimal, so 1% is 100 bp and a 2.25% loan margin is 225 bp.
- How much is 1 basis point on $1 million?
- $100 per year of accrual. Per day at ACT/360 it is $100 ÷ 360 = $0.28; for a 30-day month at ACT/360 it is $8.33. Panel 4 shows these values for any balance.
- Why does daily SOFR only change in whole basis points?
- Because the New York Fed rounds the volume-weighted median to the nearest basis point at publication. The underlying median can sit between basis points, but the published rate cannot.
- Why do SOFR Averages have five decimals?
- They are compounded from many daily rates and published "rounded to the fifth decimal place" of a percent. That makes their smallest unit 0.001 bp, so they move in fractions of a basis point even when daily SOFR is unchanged.
- Is a change from 4.00% to 4.25% a 25% increase?
- No. It is a 25 bp, or 0.25 percentage point, increase. In relative terms it is 6.25%. Panel 3 shows both numbers.
- What is the difference between a basis point and a pip?
- A basis point is a unit of interest rates and yields. A pip is a unit of exchange-rate quotes in foreign exchange. "Rates rose 1 bp" and "EUR/USD moved 1 pip" describe changes in different kinds of number, so the two never convert into each other.
- Which day count should I use for a SOFR loan?
- The New York Fed compounds SOFR into its Averages and Index using actual calendar days over a 360-day year, which is why this page defaults to ACT/360. Your contract still decides: some fixed-rate legs and bonds use 30/360 or ACT/365 Fixed.
Privacy and data
Every calculation on this page runs in your browser. Rates used by the Fill rates from data button come from a dated snapshot of New York Fed reference-rate data, currently through October 8, 2026, served from this site. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.