Daily liquidity, a lock-up period and maturity answer three different questions about a CDB, the Brazilian bank certificate of deposit. The lock-up period indicates when early redemption may start to be available. Liquidity describes the conditions under which the security can be converted into cash before the end. Maturity is the final date of the security. A CDB can therefore mature in two years and still allow earlier redemptions, or it can offer daily liquidity only after an initial lock-up period.
The three time concepts are not synonyms
In the Open Finance Data and Services Scope Manual, the Central Bank of Brazil treats maturity date, lock-up period and liquidity as separate fields for products such as CDBs. The practical logic is simple: the lock-up period answers when early redemption can become possible; liquidity answers how and how often the investment can be converted into cash; maturity answers when the security reaches its final date.
| Term | Question it answers | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Lock-up period | From when can I redeem before maturity? | It is the period during which early redemption is not available under the product terms. |
| Liquidity | Once I am eligible to redeem, under what conditions can I turn the CDB into cash? | It is the ability and condition for converting the security into cash through redemption or repurchase, as contracted. |
| Maturity | When does the CDB end? | It is the final date of the security, when the contracted term ends and the settlement provided in the CDB terms takes place. |
What daily liquidity means in a CDB
Daily liquidity does not mean that the CDB matures every day. It means that, once the conditions for redemption eligibility have been met, there is a recurring exit condition, normally described by the institution as daily. B3 emphasizes that the characteristics of a CDB, including term and return structure, are set at the time of contracting.
It is also important not to turn the expression “daily liquidity” into an automatic promise that cash will be credited to the account immediately. The institution or platform may apply cut-off times, operating rules and processing periods. If the offer states a settlement period, such as funds being available on the same day or the next business day, that information should be read separately from the frequency of liquidity.
B3's operations manual also shows that an issuance may be registered with no liquidity condition, with daily market liquidity, or with a specific liquidity condition. This reinforces that “being able to exit before maturity” is not one standardized feature of every CDB. The actual issuance and redemption conditions must be checked.
The lock-up period is the initial restriction on early redemption
The lock-up period is the initial interval during which the investor still cannot request early redemption under the contracted terms. In Open Finance data, the end-of-lock-up field is described as the date until which the customer cannot redeem the investment early.
This creates combinations that may look contradictory at first but are not. A product may advertise “daily liquidity after 90 days.” In that case, the first 90 days are the lock-up period. After that point, liquidity becomes daily under the issuer's or distributor's rules. Daily liquidity exists, but not from day one.
When the lock-up period is zero and the offer provides daily liquidity from the investment date, the investor may have access to early redemption from the start, subject to operating rules. When the offer provides redemption only at maturity, an early exit should not be assumed to be available.
Maturity is the end of the security, not necessarily the first exit date
Maturity is the final date of the CDB. It defines how long the security exists within the contracted term. That is different from saying when the investor can exit.
With a long-maturity CDB that has daily liquidity, the investor may have a redemption window well before the final date. With a CDB that has no early liquidity condition, maturity may be the only contractual exit point. Looking only at “matures in 24 months” therefore does not answer whether the money will be unavailable for all 24 months.
Timeline: how the three concepts fit together
Consider a purely operational example, with no forecast of returns:
| Milestone | Example | Correct reading |
|---|---|---|
| Investment | Day 0 | The investor buys the CDB. |
| Lock-up period | Through Day 90 | Early redemption is not yet available. |
| Start of liquidity | From Day 91 | The investor can start requesting redemption under the stated conditions, for example with daily liquidity. |
| Maturity | Day 720 | The security reaches its final date and the settlement provided for maturity takes place. |
In this example, the lock-up period and maturity mark different points on the timeline. Liquidity describes the exit mechanism between those points.
Three examples to keep the concepts separate
1. No lock-up period, daily liquidity and two-year maturity
The investor can request early redemption from the start, subject to the product's operating rules. The two-year maturity remains the final date of the CDB, not a requirement to keep the money invested until then.
2. A 90-day lock-up period, daily liquidity afterward and two-year maturity
During the first 90 days, early redemption is not available. Once the lock-up period ends, the product starts to allow redemptions at the stated frequency. Maturity remains two years after contracting.
3. No early liquidity condition and one-year maturity
The investor should not count on an exit before maturity simply because other CDBs offer daily liquidity. In this case, the maturity date is the contractual payment milestone unless the product documentation establishes another condition.
What to check before investing
- Investment or purchase date: the starting point of your timeline.
- End of the lock-up period: until when early redemption is not available.
- Liquidity condition: whether it is daily, available on specific dates, market-based, or unavailable before maturity.
- Operational redemption timing: when requested funds actually become available, if the institution provides that information.
- Maturity date: when the security reaches its end.
- Early redemption rule: whether the value or conditions can change when exiting before maturity.
The right question prevents the confusion
When comparing CDBs, replace the generic question “what is the term?” with three questions: when does the lock-up period end, what liquidity condition applies after it, and what is the maturity date? This separation shows whether the money can be withdrawn earlier, when that possibility begins, and what the final limit of the security is.
