IEF max drawdown: 25.9%
iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF. From its 1979-06-30 peak, IEF fell 25.9% to the 1981-09-30 trough and needed 3.2 years to make a new high (1982-08-31). Computed from 679 months of history starting 1970-01-31, including extended pre-ETF data where available.
Intermediate Treasuries, the classic TAA defensive sleeve.
IEF drawdown statistics
1979-06-30 peak to 1981-09-30 trough.
New high reached 1982-08-31.
Share of all months spent below a prior high.
Rolling year ending 1981-07-31.
For context, SPY (the S&P 500 baseline) had a maximum drawdown of 50.8% over the same kind of monthly-close analysis.
The biggest IEF drawdowns on record
| Depth | Peak | Trough | Recovered | Peak to trough | Total underwater |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -25.9% | 1979-06-30 | 1981-09-30 | 1982-08-31 | 27 mo | 3.2 years |
| -23.1% | 2020-07-31 | 2023-10-31 | not yet | 39 mo | 6.0 years |
| -14.0% | 1983-04-30 | 1984-05-31 | 1984-10-31 | 13 mo | 18 months |
| -12.7% | 1987-02-28 | 1987-09-30 | 1988-02-29 | 7 mo | 12 months |
| -7.6% | 2013-04-30 | 2013-12-31 | 2014-11-30 | 8 mo | 19 months |
Methodology: monthly closing prices, peak-to-trough on total return where available. History extends before the ETF's launch via documented proxy chains (index funds, indices, and academic series), the same data that powers BestFolio's strategy backtests. Educational information, not investment advice.
Drawdowns are the reason tactical strategies exist
Buy-and-hold IEF means living through every number on this page. BestFolio tracks published TAA strategies whose whole job is cutting these drawdowns, with out-of-sample track records.