You don’t know your bond rate ‘til you know your key rate. The key rate refers to a rate that measures how the value of a bond (or other security, but usually a bond) changes at a specific level of maturity along the yield curve (which show the yield of fixed-interest securities over time, until maturity).
The key rate is key if you’re a bondholder, since it helps investors see the value of bonds as they change over time. The key rate tells you how much more the bond is worth with a 1% yield increase (a 100-basis-point) and how much less it’d be worth with a 1% yield decrease.
When the market has a funky shift, you’ll want to re-evaluate your key rates on your bonds to see just how much they’re worth now.
Now you hold the key to, uh…bond-holding. Yeah.