Best brokerage for Bonds and CDs

sma3

I have started buying more bonds especially treasuries and wonder what folks think is the best of the online brokerages for selection and depth of bonds and CDs

It may vary day by day, but today at least Fido had a lot more depth and selections than Schwab

Fido also has a neat Bond analysis tool that lets you look at your entire portfolio, although they will not support bond funds, other than the ones in your Fido account apparently. Nothing similar at Schwab

I gave up on Vanguard months ago

Any other suggestions?

Sven

For new issues (CDs and treasures), Fidelity is very easy to use. Vanguard works well using Google Chrome browser but not Safari (very strange).

Remember that treasuries are easy to trade on secondary market. Brokered CDs are not as liquid.

yogibearbull

I helped a friend buy Treasury (ladder) at Fido and Vanguard. And I have bought Treasuries at Fido and Schwab. Each has its pros and cons. One good thing with Vanguard was that the Treasury ladder could be named, saved and accessed for analysis or future order placements. Fido offered Save but I could find where the save went - we had to repeatedly go back to Search screen to find ladder components again and again.

Bond trading is OTC, so quotes may hide markups/commissions; platform fees may be disclosed. I think that for retail investors, these 3 cover lots of territory. Professional bond traded involving hundreds/millions of dollars require special handling. Total bond market is multiple times the total stock market, but most bond issues don't trade daily/weekly/monthly.

Illiquidity of CDs in secondary markets is a good point. Stick with T-Notes if there is a small chance of cashing before maturity.

johnN

I used Schwab buy my own bonds and mama acct we use fidelity


Fidelity and Schwab bonds desk are extremely safe Imho . most corp bonds bbb- or higher so chance bankruptcy maybe nearb~5 -10% annually if choose lower grades

Got mama Ford bond gm bond and added fidelity 2015 retired TDfund today

Observant1

Sven said:

For new issues (CDs and treasures), Fidelity is very easy to use. Vanguard works well using Google Chrome browser but not Safari (very strange).

Remember that treasuries is easy to trade on secondary market. Brokered CDs are not as liquid.

I was unable to purchase T-Bills via Vanguard using the Firefox browser but Chrome worked fine.
My guess is that the Vanguard website was optimized for Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, etc.) when it was revamped.

Derf

@Observant1 : I'm using Firefox & currently buying T-bill. You're probably right about the optimized for.
Have a good one, Derf
P.S. It seems VG
is working on up
grading their
platform.

Observant1

@Derf,

Did you purchase the T-Bill via Vanguard using Firefox?
I just checked Vanguard and Firefox still doesn't work for me when attempting to trade bonds/CDs.

Transact > Trade Bonds or CDS
Selected Account and clicked Continue

In lower-left corner of Firefox, "www.tradewebretail.com" flashes continuously but nothing happens.

Derf

@Observant1 : Very odd in deed . Seems to me someone wants your business ?

Yes my trade went through with Firefox, confirmation today.

Appears to be pop - up ad.

Added: Did you convert to a brokerage account with them?

Observant1

Derf,

Yes, I converted my taxable Vanguard account to a brokerage account years ago.

dtconroe

I use Schwab Brokerage exclusively and they offer a wide array of CDs, at very good rates. You do need to be careful about the "Call" feature, as it is easy to overlook that possibility of getting a callable CD. I bought a Schwab CD in May of this year, and it got called in September. Fortunately, I was happy this occurred as it was paying 2.1%, and after getting back $200k that I originally invested, I was able to reinvest it in new CDs paying 4% and 4.25%. I can't speak to Fidelity or Vanguard, but I suspect they have similar offerings. I am looking forward to several other short term CDs maturing in the next few months, and I anticipate reinvesting it a short term ladder when that occurs. I have not ruled out shifting some CD money to bond oefs in the future, but I am not expecting the bond oef market returning to total return strength in the near future. Just as side note, I am able to hold almost all on my cash in money market funds at Schwab that pays about 3%. for liquidity purposes. I am retired, 74 years of age, and I am loving the higher CD rates for investments.