Updated 07 Jun 2026

Cut-off, median, and average T-bill yield: which one do you actually get?

A Singapore T-bill auction result shows three yields — cut-off, median, and average. Only the cut-off is the rate you receive. Here's what each number means and why they differ.

Informational only, not financial advice. Definitions below are summarized from MAS auction documentation. Verify against the sources cited — and the specific auction result release — before acting.

Every Singapore T-bill auction result publishes three yield numbers — cut-off, median, and average — and they are almost never the same. That trips up a lot of first-time bidders: if the median is lower than the cut-off, did I just get the lower rate?

The short answer: no. In a Singapore T-bill auction, every successful bidder receives the cut-off yield. The median and average are descriptive statistics about how people bid — they are not prices, and you never “receive the median.” If you bid non-competitively (as most retail investors do), the cut-off is the only number that affects your return.

This article explains what each of the three means, why they differ, and which one is actually yours.

The 30-second version

Cut-off yield — the rate you get. Everyone who is allotted, gets this.
Median yield — a snapshot of the bidding: half of the accepted competitive bids came in at or below it. Not a rate anyone is paid.
Average yield — the amount-weighted average of the accepted competitive bids. Also a bidding statistic, not a rate anyone is paid.

Both the median and the average sit at or below the cut-off, because the cut-off is the highest yield MAS accepted. A wide gap between them just tells you how the bids were spread out — it has no effect on what you earn.

The one rule that resolves the confusion

MAS sells T-bills through a uniform-price auction (also called a Dutch auction). The defining feature: everyone pays the same clearing price. MAS ranks the competitive bids from the lowest yield (cheapest for the government) upward, fills from the bottom until the issue is covered, and the last yield accepted becomes the cut-off. That single cut-off yield is then applied to all allotted bids — competitive and non-competitive alike — even if you bid for a lower yield, and even if you bid non-competitively and named no yield at all.

So the median and average can only ever be summaries of the bids that came in. They describe the auction; they don’t price it.

Source: MAS — How SGS Auctions Are Conducted

Cut-off yield — the rate you receive

The cut-off yield is the highest yield MAS accepted to fill the issue. It is the market-clearing rate, and it is what every allotted bidder earns.

Non-competitive bidders (most retail investors) automatically receive the cut-off — that is the entire point of bidding non-competitively: you accept whatever the cut-off turns out to be.
Competitive bidders who bid at or below the cut-off are filled, and they also receive the cut-off — not the lower yield they bid.

The latest 6-month T-bill (BS26111H) cleared at a cut-off of 1.48% (as of the last ingest). See the full auction details →

Median yield — a bidding statistic, not your rate

The median yield is the midpoint of the accepted competitive bids: half of them came in at or below this yield, half above. MAS publishes it as a read on demand, not as a price.

If the median is much lower than the cut-off, it means most accepted bids clustered at lower yields and MAS had to reach up to a higher yield at the margin to fill the full issue — so the few highest accepted bids set a cut-off well above where the typical bid landed. If the median sits close to the cut-off, bidding was tightly clustered.

Either way, you do not receive the median. It is a description of the bid book.

Average yield — also a statistic

The average yield is the average of the accepted competitive bids, weighted by the amount allotted to each. Like the median, it summarizes where bidding landed; unlike the cut-off, nobody is paid it.

The median and the average answer slightly different questions — the median is the middle bid, the average is pulled toward where the volume of bids sat — which is why they rarely match exactly. Neither changes your return.

The three numbers, side by side

Number	What it is	Do you receive it?	What it tells you
Cut-off yield	Highest yield MAS accepted (the clearing rate)	Yes — this is your rate	Your actual return
Median yield	Midpoint of accepted competitive bids	No	How tightly bids were clustered
Average yield	Amount-weighted average of accepted competitive bids	No	Where the bid volume sat

Only the competitive bids feed the median and average — non-competitive bids carry no yield (they simply accept the cut-off), so they aren’t part of those two statistics.

A worked example

Suppose a 6-month auction result reads:

Cut-off yield: 2.50%
Median yield: 2.30%
Average yield: 2.38%

What you earn depends only on the cut-off:

You bid non-competitively for S$10,000 → you are allotted at 2.50% (the cut-off). The median and average are irrelevant to you.
You bid competitively at 2.20% → because 2.20% is below the 2.50% cut-off, you are accepted, and you still earn 2.50%.
You bid competitively at 2.70% → that is above the cut-off, so your bid is rejected (too expensive for the government) and you receive no allotment.

In all accepted cases the rate is the cut-off. The 2.30% median and 2.38% average only describe how the room bid.

Why the cut-off sits above the median

Because the cut-off is the highest accepted competitive yield, it is by definition at the top of the accepted range, while the median is the midpoint — so the cut-off is normally the higher of the two. The size of the gap is a demand signal, not a discount on your return.

In the latest 6-month auction (BS26111H), the cut-off of 1.48% sat about 7 basis points above the median of 1.41% (as of the last ingest) — a measure of how spread out the bidding was, nothing more.

What this means for you

If you bid non-competitively (the default for most retail investors): the cut-off is the only figure that affects your return — the median and average don’t enter into it.
If you are trying to estimate the rate before you commit: the previous auction’s cut-off and current secondary-market yields are far more useful guides than this auction’s median or average. Track recent cut-offs on the T-bill tracker.
If you bid competitively (institutions and some experienced retail): past median and average yields help you judge where to place a bid so it clears — but you will still be paid the cut-off if accepted, never your own bid.

Where to see these numbers

MAS publishes all three yields in each auction result release on the day of the auction. We surface the cut-off on every T-bill auction page — and the median where MAS records it — as soon as the result is ingested; for the average yield, check the MAS auction result release for that issue.

Source: MAS — How SGS Auctions Are Conducted · MAS T-bill FAQ

Bottom line

A T-bill auction reports three yields, but only one is yours: the cut-off. The median and average are statistics that describe how people bid — useful context, never your payout. If you bid non-competitively, the cut-off is the only number you need.