Retail Agency Bond Broker?

[kmiklas]

Brethren:

Where can I purchase retail agency bonds?

- IB: Just had a talk with them, and they do not offer Agency bonds.
- Schwab: Nope.. their bond offering is in the toilet. Can't even get a Treasury bond.

I doubt that the discount brokers (eTrade, Ameritrade, et alia) would offer them.

Anyone know of a retail broker that offers Agency bonds?

Thanks, Keith :^)
Non-professional - not licensed - not qualified to give advice - opinion only

 

[mervyn]

Fidelity, currently has 1466 cusip

 

[ZBZB]

Is there an agency bond etf?

 

[mervyn]

Agency bonds are not interested unless you specialize in this field.

Repack of home mortgages, farm loans, small business loans, etc. there are special groups of folks will hold these, like American public pensions funds, not even IRA managers are taking any interest.

 

[ETJ]

GNMA business is still pretty robust - especially for older investors.

 

[BMK]

Schwab: Nope.. their bond offering is in the toilet. Can't even get a Treasury bond.

What are you talking about? LOL

I have an account at Schwab, and there are plenty of agency bonds available.

Either you are not using the right search criteria, or you are looking for something really esoteric.

Can you give an example of a particular agency and the maturity you are looking for?

 

[BMK]

I've attached a search of agency bonds on Schwab.

Many require a minimum order of $10K face value, or even more. But some are offered in smaller lots.

 

[kmiklas]

What are you talking about? LOL

I have an account at Schwab, and there are plenty of agency bonds available.

Either you are not using the right search criteria, or you are looking for something really esoteric.

Can you give an example of a particular agency and the maturity you are looking for?

I've attached a search of agency bonds on Schwab.

Many require a minimum order of $10K face value, or even more. But some are offered in smaller lots.

I actually called them and talked it over. I was told that there is no bond scanner in StreetSmart.

Where did you do this agency bond search?

 

[BMK]

Where did you do this agency bond search?

On their basic platform at schwab.com

You click on <Trade>, and then click <Bonds>. On the page it takes you to, you then have to click on another link that says <Find Bonds & Fixed Income>.

Then you can do a search, and there is a drop down with various types of bonds, e.g., corporates, treasuries, and agencies.

It's a bit clunky. I don't see a way to limit the search to a particular agency. But there are lots of other variables you can control, such as maturity and yield. And once you get results, you can click on the column header to order the results alphabetically, which will organize them by the name of the agency.

 

[kmiklas]

Thanks

On their basic platform at schwab.com

You click on <Trade>, and then click <Bonds>. On the page it takes you to, you then have to click on another link that says <Find Bonds & Fixed Income>.

Then you can do a search, and there is a drop down with various types of bonds, e.g., corporates, treasuries, and agencies.

It's a bit clunky. I don't see a way to limit the search to a particular agency. But there are lots of other variables you can control, such as maturity and yield. And once you get results, you can click on the column header to order the results alphabetically, which will organize them by the name of the agency.

Thanks! The help desk at Schwab said nothing about this… perhaps because I was asking about StreetSmart Edge.