where 
while dollar duration refers to an individual bond price the sum of the weighted bond dollar durations in a portfolio is the portfolio dollar duration dollar duration can be applied to other fixed income products as well that have prices that vary with interest rate moves dollar duration vs other duration methodsdollar duration differs from macaulay duration and modified duration in that modified duration is a price sensitivity measure of the yield change meaning it is a good measure of volatility and macaulay duration uses the coupon rate and size plus the yield to maturity to assess the sensitivity of a bond dollar duration on the other hand provides a straightforward dollar amount computation given a 1 change in rates limitations of dollar durationdollar duration has its limitations firstly because it is a negative sloping linear line and it assumes the yield curve moves in parallels the result is only an approximation however if you have a large bond portfolio the approximation becomes less of a limitation another limitation is that the dollar duration calculation assumes the bond has fixed rates with fixed interval payments however interest rates for bonds differ based on market conditions as well as the introduction of synthetic instruments 