Understand the money.
Then read the numbers.
What creates a deposit? Why does a chart change? Build your understanding with practical examples, clear definitions and links to the original sources.
How money is created
Follow loans, deposits and central-bank transactions through the balance sheet.
How Banks Create Money: Follow a $1,000 Loan
Trace a hypothetical loan through two banks, then see what repayment, default and capital constraints mean for deposits and M2.
Read the guideQuantitative Easing vs Money Printing: Two Ledgers
Compare a central bank buying bonds from a bank and a household. Our worked ledgers show when QE creates deposits and why its size does not equal M2 growth.
Read the guideQuantitative Tightening and Money Supply: 3 Funding Cases
Follow hypothetical bond sales and Treasury runoff to see why QT can reduce reserves, reverse repos or deposits by different amounts.
Read the guideMoney supply vs government debt: follow the balance sheets
Trace a hypothetical bond sale, government payment and QE purchase to see when deposits change, who owes whom, and what a debt-to-money ratio leaves out.
Read the guideMake sense of the data
Choose the right series, understand the adjustments and make a comparison you can explain.
How to read money supply data on M2 Index
Read the CSV fields, check observation dates and growth windows, separate currency effects, and understand why our US broad-money row differs from Fed M2.
Read the guideSeasonally Adjusted Money Supply: How to Read M2SL and M2NS
Choose the right M2 series, reproduce a worked example, and see why seasonal adjustment can change monthly growth without changing the underlying deposits.
Read the guideNominal vs Real Money Supply: Calculate M2 After Inflation
Calculate purchasing-power growth with a worked example, choose a consistent price index, and avoid confusing real M2 with a USD conversion or a rebased chart.
Read the guideWhy Money Supply Data Is Revised: How to Track M2 Vintages
Reproduce an older money-supply chart, separate revisions from series breaks, and see how a changed comparison value can turn reported growth into a decline.
Read the guideTake a closer look at one economy.
Read a country’s series, check its observation date and trace the source.