The Bullion API now reports who holds US Treasury securities. It covers the bills, notes and bonds that foreign holders own, by country, at the end of each month, at market value, in dollars.
There are two public pages. The holders page shows the latest month: the total, the share held by official institutions, and every holder ranked by what it holds. Each holder also has its own page, such as Japan. It shows the holder's rank, its change over the month and the year, and the last 12 months.
What the data shows
At the end of August 2026, foreign holders held $9.33T. That is up $83.30B on July, and 40.25% of it is held by foreign official institutions. The other 60% or so is not official. Japan is the largest holder at $1.07T, then the United Kingdom at $1.01T and China at $590.73B. There are 60 holders in all, and the top 10 hold about 59% of the total.
The total has barely moved in a year. It was $9.25T in August 2025. The movement is underneath it:
- Japan is down $115.62B over the year. It has fallen in each of the last four months, by $141.61B in all.
- China is down $108.97B over the year. It fell in nine of the last 12 months.
- The United Kingdom is up $108.16B over the year.
Japan and China are lower and the UK is higher, by about the same amount as each of them fell. The gap between Japan and the UK is now about $60B.
Holdings are not ownership
Every page says the same thing: holdings are attributed to the country where the custodian or counterparty is based, not the beneficial owner.
That changes how the ranking reads. Belgium, the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg and Ireland sit in the top nine, and between them hold about 19% of the total. They are custody centres. A large number next to their name says where the securities are kept, not whose savings they are. The same goes for a rise like the UK's. The data can't tell you whether it comes from UK investors or from money held there for someone else.
A change is not a purchase
The pages show changes in holdings, and I word them that way. A holding that falls by $35.66B has fallen. It hasn't been sold. These figures are at market value, so a fall can come from selling or from a change in price, and the data doesn't separate the two. It is the same rule I applied to central-bank gold, in adding nine more central banks.
When there is no change
A holder's change shows only when the previous calendar month is stored. If that month is missing, the change is empty. I don't measure it from the latest month I have stored.
Every holder on the August page has a change, so you won't see an empty one there yet.
What is still open
Each month is published about six weeks after it ends, so these pages are never live. The holders page gives the official share for the latest month only, so it can't yet show whether that share is rising or falling. I haven't added that.