The Federal Reserve announced on April 13 that it will purchase roughly $25 billion in Treasury bills each month, a sharper reduction than markets anticipated from the reserve management purchases (RMP) program launched in December 2025.
The program originally started at approximately $40 billion per month. Cutting that by more than a third caught analysts off guard, most of whom had expected a gentler tapering schedule designed to keep bank reserves comfortably above what the Fed considers “ample” levels.
What the RMP program actually does
The RMP program was launched after quantitative tightening officially ended on December 1, 2025, following significant balance sheet reduction since 2022. By buying short-term Treasury bills, the Fed adds reserves back into the banking system, preventing the kind of overnight funding crunches that spooked markets in September 2019.
The New York Fed’s Open Market Trading Desk executes these purchases as part of the central bank’s ample-reserves framework. Alongside the $25 billion in new purchases, the Fed is also conducting roughly $15.5 billion in reinvestments monthly.
