Pre-holiday reverse repurchase "red envelope" is now available! Operate today to earn 5 days of interest passively

The Qingming Festival holiday is coming up soon, and the pre-holiday government bond reverse repo “bonuses” are also officially up for grabs!

In line with this year’s Qingming Festival holiday schedule, today is an ideal time to carry out government bond reverse repo transactions. By investing in a 2-day reverse repo, you can earn interest for 5 days. The funds can be credited by before market open on April 7, and they can also be used for further investment. In addition, if you execute a 1-day government bond reverse repo today, the funds will be available before market close tomorrow, and then you can conduct another 1-day government bond reverse repo tomorrow. With both transactions combined, you can earn interest for 5 days without affecting stock trading.

This is how you “lie back and earn” 5 days of interest

According to the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing exchanges’ published schedule for the 2026 Qingming Festival holiday closures, April 4 to April 6 will be closed for trading, and trading will resume as usual starting April 7. April 3 is the last trading day before the Qingming Festival.

Investors need to pay attention to the best trading day for different-tenor government bond reverse repo products and the corresponding number of interest-accrual days. For 1-day reverse repo in the exchange market, the interest start date is T+1. Even though the next day’s funds from the sell transaction cannot be withdrawn, they can be used to buy stocks and funds. Combined with the holiday schedule, there are several options with a relatively longer interest-accrual period for this round of government bond reverse repo transactions:

First, sell the 2-day reverse repo on April 1, which can earn interest for 5 days;

Second, sell the 1-day reverse repo on April 1 to receive 1 day of interest. The funds will already be in an available state before market open on April 2. Then on April 2, sell another 1-day reverse repo to receive 4 days of interest. The funds will be available before market open on April 3. The two transactions together total 5 days of interest accrual.

It should be noted that if you do the reverse repo on April 3—that is, the day before the holiday—it will only count one day of interest, and no interest will be counted during the long holiday period.

Keep these little tips in mind

For most stock investors, daily participation in the 1-day reverse repo trade is usually sufficient. Make sure that the funds are available before market open on the next trading day so they do not affect your stock operations.

The days just before holidays are often a good time to do government bond reverse repo. Because it is close to month-end, quarter-end, and holiday periods, demand for funds from various parties increases, which pushes government bond reverse repo yields upward.

It should be noted that although the yield of government bond reverse repos changes in real time like stocks, the actual interest accrual is calculated based on the time you sell. For example, if the yield of a 1-day government bond reverse repo on the Shanghai market suddenly jumps to 4%, and an investor sells the reverse repo at that moment, they can enjoy the 4% yield. Even if the yield falls back to 3% by the close, it does not affect the investor’s final return.

In addition, because the interest rate for government bond reverse repos can change significantly within a single day, investors cannot ensure they get the relatively higher rate for that day with a single transaction. Placing orders in batches can avoid this issue. Especially for investors with large amounts of funds, placing orders in batches can, in most cases, capture higher intraday interest rates. Investors should be reminded that, in general, after 3:00 p.m., government bond reverse repo rates often experience a “dive.”

（Source: Shanghai Securities News）