Your brokerage statement shows a sweep rate. The Federal Reserve’s H.4.1 release shows a reverse repurchase agreements line. They are not the same kind of number, and the gap between them is where most of the confusion lives.
The H.4.1 released October 29, 2026 reports reverse repurchase agreements of $330,384 million on an average daily basis for the week ended October 28, up $3,146 million from the prior week and down $28,798 million from the same week a year earlier. Of that total, $330,162 million sits with foreign official and international accounts and $222 million with “Others.” Those are quantities — dollars parked overnight at the Fed by counterparties who chose to do so. Your sweep rate is a price. A balance can fall while a price holds, and a price can move while a balance sits still.
What the ON RRP facility actually is
The New York Fed describes its reverse repo operations plainly: the Bank conducts repo and reverse repo operations each day “as a means to help keep the federal funds rate in the target range set by the Federal Open Market Committee.” The facility is a tool for keeping an overnight rate inside a band. It is not a retail deposit product, and no brokerage firm sets its sweep rate by reading the ON RRP balance.
Operation results are published daily. The H.4.1 aggregates them weekly. The release schedule is fixed: the Federal Reserve publishes H.4.1 “each Thursday, generally at 4:30 p.m.,” with publication shifted to the next business day when the regular date falls on a federal holiday. So the balance you read on a Thursday describes the week that ended the prior Wednesday — a lag of roughly one to eight days depending on which day of the week you are reading it. That is the only lag this article can state with a source behind it.
Where the sweep rate actually comes from
The SEC’s Office of Investor Education describes three common structures for uninvested cash in a brokerage account: a money market fund sweep, a bank sweep, and a free credit balance left at the firm. The bulletin is explicit that money market funds “generally invest in high quality, short-term debt securities, such as Treasury bills, and pay dividends that generally reflect short term interest rates.” A separate SEC bulletin on money market funds adds that fund yields “change over time and generally reflect changes in short-term interest rates.”
That is the transmission chain that matters for a sweep account:
- The FOMC sets a target range for the federal funds rate.
- Short-term instruments — Treasury bills, repo, commercial paper — price off that range and off supply and demand in their own markets.
- A money market fund’s portfolio yield follows those instruments, net of the fund’s expense ratio.
- The fund’s dividend, or the bank’s credited rate in a bank sweep, lands on your statement.
The ON RRP balance is not a step in that chain. It is a liability on the Fed’s balance sheet reflecting how much cash counterparties — primarily money market funds — chose to leave at the facility overnight instead of buying a bill or lending in repo. When that balance falls, it usually means those counterparties found a better use for the cash. It does not mean the Fed changed a rate, and it does not mean your firm changed its sheet.
Why the structure of your sweep may matter more than the H.4.1 line
The SEC bulletin states that bank sweep programs “often pay less interest than money market fund sweep programs.” FINRA’s investor education page goes further: “Many full-service brokerage firms offer only a bank sweep program, which can pay far less interest than a money market mutual fund account,” and notes that in a higher-rate environment the spread between money market funds, bank sweeps, and free credit balances “can be as much as 5 percent.”
Five percentage points on a $50,000 cash balance is $2,500 a year, or roughly $625 a quarter. No plausible move in the ON RRP balance produces that gap. The structure of the program does.
Here is a hypothetical illustration, clearly labeled as such: two accounts at the same firm, both holding $50,000 in uninvested cash, one in a bank sweep and one in a government money market fund sweep. In the same quarter, with the same policy rate and the same H.4.1 release in front of both account holders, the credited rates can differ materially because the bank sweep rate is set by the firm and its affiliated banks while the fund yield follows the fund’s portfolio. The H.4.1 line is identical for both readers. The outcome is not.
A three-step diagnostic you can run this week
Step one: identify your sweep type. The SEC bulletin directs investors to the brokerage account agreement, the account opening materials, or the account statement. Many firms default new accounts into a bank sweep. If you never chose, you are probably in the default.
Step two: read the current rate off the statement. The sweep rate and the accrued interest appear on the statement itself. Note the rate and the period it covers. If the statement shows a monthly rate, annualize it before comparing to anything else.
Step three: compare to a published short-term reference. The New York Fed publishes SOFR each business day at approximately 8:00 a.m. ET, described as “a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by Treasury securities.” Treasury bill yields are published by the Treasury. Either gives you a reference point. The number that matters is the gap between your credited rate and that reference — not the direction of the H.4.1 reverse repo line.
If the gap is wide, the question to ask your firm is not “what will the Fed do” but “what are my other sweep options and what do they pay.” The SEC bulletin is direct on this point: you can move your uninvested cash in search of higher interest or dividend rates, even if your firm automatically enrolled you in its default.
The 30-day notice is a checkable event
The SEC bulletin states that a broker-dealer “must give you 30 days’ written notice of any changes to the terms and conditions or products offered in a broker-dealer’s cash sweep program.” That is a concrete timeline you can use. If your firm changes your sweep terms, a notice should arrive before the change lands on a statement. If a rate change appears on your statement with no prior notice, that is worth a call to the firm — not because the rate itself is wrong, but because the notice requirement is a documented obligation.
This is the one place where a stated lag in days applies directly to your account: 30 days, in writing, before a term change. Everything else in this article is about reading the numbers you already have.
What the H.4.1 line does tell you
The reverse repo line is one input to the broader picture of reserves and funding in the banking system. When the balance falls, cash has moved from the Fed’s facility into bills, repo, or other instruments. That can affect short-term rates at the margin. But the size and direction of that effect on any specific sweep rate is not something the retrieved sources establish, and this article does not claim a measured lag between the H.4.1 line and a retail sweep yield. No such measurement exists in the public documentation reviewed here.
What the sources do establish: the H.4.1 is published weekly with a one-to-eight-day lag from the week it describes; money market fund yields generally reflect short-term interest rates; bank sweeps often pay less than money market fund sweeps; and your firm owes you 30 days’ written notice before changing sweep terms. Those four facts are enough to run the diagnostic above without forecasting anything.
Frequently asked questions
Does a falling ON RRP balance mean my sweep rate will fall? Not directly. The ON RRP balance is a quantity chosen by counterparties, not a rate applied to your account. A falling balance means cash moved elsewhere. Whether your sweep rate moves depends on your program’s structure and the short-term instruments behind it.
How often is the H.4.1 published, and how current is it? Each Thursday, generally at 4:30 p.m., covering the week ended the prior Wednesday. Publication shifts to the next business day when the regular date is a federal holiday.
Can I switch from a bank sweep to a money market fund sweep? The SEC bulletin says you can move your uninvested cash in search of higher rates and directs investors to ask their firm how to change the sweep option. Availability varies by firm and account type.
Is my bank sweep FDIC insured? The SEC bulletin states bank sweep programs provide FDIC insurance up to the $250,000 limit per customer at each FDIC-insured bank participating in the program. Money market fund sweeps are not FDIC insured; they may carry SIPC protection against firm failure, which does not protect against a decline in value.
What rate should I compare my sweep to? A published short-term reference such as SOFR or a Treasury bill yield. The gap between your credited rate and that reference is the number to act on.
For readers tracking how a rate hold shows up on the borrowing side of the household balance sheet, the mechanics of credit card pricing are covered in What a Rate Hold Actually Means for Credit Card Borrowers.
