The balance sheet shrunk from $8,874,620 million on August 3 to $8,822,401 million on September 7, a rate of about $50 billion per month or $600 billion per year. If continued, this rate of decrease would bring the balance sheet from $8.5 trillion down to $5.5 trillion by 2027, within range of the “optimal balance sheet” described in the Vanguard report.