Call Risk

A call risk is the risk that the issuer of your bond will redeem it (a process known as "calling") before its maturity. If this happens, you could lose out because you didn't get all the interest you had expected.

You were supposed to get an 8% coupon for 10 years. But after two years, the bond is called. You lose eight years of profits from the bond. Meanwhile, you could have sold the bond if interest rates went down, making your 8% more attractive to other investors. If a bond is called, you lose out on the chance to sell that bond at a profit.

The call risk measures the possibility that the issuer might go through this process. It takes into account a) whether the bond is callable, b) the process needed to call it (what restrictions the issuer has), and c) the relationship between prevailing interest rates and the interest rates you are getting on the bond. So if a bond is callable and there are very few restrictions on the issuers ability to call it and the interest rates you are getting on the bond are much higher than the current prevailing rates (so it would be in the issuer's interest to call the bond and issue a new set at a lower rate), then the call risk is very high.