Flat-price

Prices of listed bonds can be displayed with or without accrued interest. Accrued interest is the interest claim which has emerged since the previous interest payment date and are paid to the bond holders by the new bond holders after the sale of the bond. A bond price including accrued interest is called a dirty price, or flat price. In Germany, it is more to quote prices excluding accrued interest - the so-called clean price - in order to avoid price fluctuations by rising interest claims. Interest claims are paid part of the transaction of buyers to sellers. However, the trading of bonds of defaulting debtors who probably can no longer pay the interest is called flat trading. In this context, flat means that neither accrued interest incurred nor it is factored in the bond price, as market participants do not expect any interest payment.