Can I Buy Treasury Bonds on Merrill Edge?
Yes, you can trade Treasury bonds at Merrill Edge. Read on for more information.
Treasury Bonds at Merrill Edge
Merrill Edge has an easy-to-use website that makes finding Treasury bonds, notes, and bills simple. The best place to start is under the Research tab in the top menu. Under this tab, there are several links. Click on the one for fixed income. This will take you to a section for bonds, including Treasuries.
There are many resources in this fixed-income center. The overview tab shows the current U.S. Treasury Yield curve, which is inverted at the time of writing. The current rate on the 10-year Treasury is shown, which is 4.05%.
The Education tab has many learning materials about fixed-income securities. We found both articles and videos. Here are some examples:
- What is fixed income?
- Understanding bonds and their risks
- What are the different types of fixed income products I can invest in?
- How often do bonds pay interest?
This education center is a great place for beginners. More experienced bond traders might want to check out the Research & News tab. This section has research reports from Bank of America Securities. The PDF reports cover topics that Treasury traders will find useful. Here are a few we found:
- Situation Room: Big inflow into high grade
- Monthly HG Market Review: June '23: Resilient economy, hawkish Fed
- US High Grade Credit Research: Top US High Grade Ideas
The last tab is the Screener tab. As the name suggests, this is where you can search for Treasury bonds to trade. First, click on the Treasuries icon on the main screen. After selecting this type of debt, you can set other criteria, such as yield to worst and offer price.
You can sort the search results by different factors, including coupon rate, offer price, and call date. It’s easy to go through the many results by using multiple filters. Examples include coupon rate, quantity, offer price, and yield to worst. There is also a comparison link at the bottom of the results and a watchlist link in this area.
Treasury Profiles
In the search results, each bond’s CUSIP is a clickable link. Clicking on this link opens a pop-up window at the top of the website with more details. A chart showing yield to worst is displayed here along with other information like call status.
There is also a blue Research button here. Clicking on this opens another page with more details, including the minimum order size and duration. This profile also has links to add a bond to a watchlist or to set up an alert for it.
Best Merrill Alternatives
How to Buy a Treasury Bill at Merrill Edge
The comparison tool, the pop-up window, and the bond’s profile all have trade links. Clicking on the trade link in any of these places opens the order form. It’s very easy to use. The CUSIP and buy-side entry are already filled in, along with other important details like the minimum purchase amount, the number of bonds available, and the multiple in which the security trades (usually 1 for most bonds representing $1,000).
Just enter the desired purchase amount, including the three zeros (5000 for a $5,000 purchase), and preview the order. Accrued interest and the estimated order amount will be shown. If everything looks correct, go ahead and submit the order.
Next to the trade ticket is a small window showing the account’s buying power. Available numbers include:
- US treasury bills/notes buying power
- US treasury bonds buying power
- Government agencies buying power
Note that a margin account can trade Treasury debt with significant leverage, so some bond types may have substantial buying power.
Schwab as an Alternative
Although we like Merrill Edge’s Treasury service, Charles Schwab offers another option for trading government debt. Unlike Merrill Edge, Schwab allows trading in some foreign government bonds. This provides a chance to diversify a U.S. bond portfolio.
Another area where Schwab is better than Merrill Edge is with mutual funds. Although these aren’t directly Treasury bonds, many invest in Treasury securities, and Schwab has more mutual funds than Merrill Edge.
Like Merrill Edge, Schwab has an easy-to-use website with many resources for trading individual Treasury securities. There are educational materials and tools that help you find bonds to trade.
Another area where Schwab is better than Merrill Edge is in Market Depth. Some Treasury securities at Schwab have multiple prices at different quantities. Merrill’s site doesn’t show this information (only the current offer price is shown on Merrill’s site).
Merrill Edge’s trade ticket for bonds only has one order type: market. Schwab’s order form, on the other hand, has two trade types: market and limit.
Schwab’s order ticket also automatically fills in the last three zeros in the quantity field, so you only need to enter a 9 to purchase $9,000 of a bond offering. Some users might find this system easier.
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Updated on 4/11/2025.
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