STRIPS

Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal Securities (STRIPS)

Long-term notes and bonds divided into principal and interest-paying components, which may be transferred and sold in amounts as small as $1000. STRIPS are sold at auction at a minimum par amount, varying for each issue. The amount is an arithmetic function of the issue's interest rate.

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Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities

Also called STRIPS, a Treasury security whose coupons have been separated from the principal. STRIPS therefore pay no interest. They are sold at a significant discount from par and mature at par. STRIPS fluctuate in price, sometimes dramatically, because changes in interest rates made them more or less desirable. STRIPS could be invested IRAs and other pension accounts; however, unlike other Treasury securities, they are subject to federal taxes. STRIPS are quoted according to their yields rather than their prices. They began to be issued in 1985, rendering obsolete similar securities, such as CATS, which behaved similarly. See also: zero-coupon bond.

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Strip

A bearish investment strategy in which an investor holds two puts and one call on the same underlying asset with the same expiration date and strike price. An investor uses a strip when he/she believes that the price of the underlying will decrease substantially. If it does, the investor stands to make a substantial profit by exercising the puts. On the other hand, if the underlying increases in price, the investor will not suffer a substantial loss because the strike price of the call protects him/her. See also: Call backspread ratio, Strap.

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STRIPS

See Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities.

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STRIPS. STRIPS, an acronym for separate trading of registered interest and principal of securities, are special issues of US Treasury zero-coupon bonds. They're created and sold by brokerage firms, not by the government.

The bonds are prestripped, which means that the issue is separated into the principal and a series of individual interest payments, and each of those parts is offered separately as a zero-coupon security.