How Do I Trade Bonds?

IB provides support for customers to trade Corporate, Municipal and Treasury bonds on multiple destinations from within TWS, with electronic access to multiple bond destinations via our SmartRouting technology. It's important to note that you must upgrade your trading permissions to include Fixed Income and subscribe to US Bond Data before you will be able to trade any bond instruments, and subscribe to Moody's Ratings to trade municipal bonds.

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Trading Permissions

Log into Account Management to subscribe to bond & market data

To trade bonds, you first need to log into Account Management and use the Trade > Configuration menu to upgrade your Trading Permissions to include Fixed Income. To get bond data, you need to upgrade your Market Data Subscriptions to include US Bond Real-Time Data and Moody's Ratings.


Corporate Bonds

Trade US corporate bonds and submit Requests for Quotes

IB's electronic trading platform aggregates bond liquidity from the top four bonds ATS's giving IB customers access to multiple sources of liquidity. For clients who have specific needs, our bond desk can source specific issues.


Use our Corporate Bonds scanner to find bonds with the highest yield, best ratings or whatever bond criteria you require. Create orders from the trading window with a single click, and submit RFQs using the right-click menu from a data line.



Watch Movie TWS US Corporate Bond Scanner - Overview


Municipal Bonds

US Municipal bonds with RFQs and comparable bonds list

To ensure fair pricing relative to prevailing market conditions, TWS automatically displays a list of comparable bonds for comparison, along with a quick-click RFQ button to easily place a request for quote on any bond.


Treasury Bonds

Fixed Income securities instruments backed by the US Treasury

Treasuries are a highly liquid fixed income instrument with transparent pricing. While their yield-to-maturity may be lower than other bonds, their relatively low risk may make these instruments a stable addition to your portfolio.


Any symbols displayed are for illustrative purposes only and do not portray a recommendation.