Interactive Brokers Bonds
If you want a platform for buying and selling fixed-income products, Interactive Brokers is a solid option to consider. In addition to bonds and similar instruments on U.S. markets, the broker also provides access to select international venues.
Availability of Fixed-Income Securities
Interactive Brokers provides access to a broad range of bonds and related products. The lineup includes corporate bonds, certificates of deposit, municipal bonds, U.S. Treasuries, and government bonds issued outside the United States.
In addition to the U.S. markets, bond trading is available through Interactive Brokers on exchanges such as Hong Kong and Euronext.
Searching for Bonds on the Website
A good starting point is Interactive Brokers’ bond scanner. This tool is located on the website under the Research tab. (You can also access the screener without signing in by using the standalone Bond Search Tool.)
After opening the search interface, you can easily filter results using a wide range of criteria and set specific parameters. The available filters include:
- Coupon rate
- Yield to worst
- Country of issue
- Maturity date
- CUSIP number
- Bond rating
- Currency
- Industry
In our testing, we saw tens of thousands of bonds listed (Interactive Brokers states that over 1 million securities are available to trade). Below are a few examples of what we found:
- US muni bonds — 2,525
- Global corporate bonds — 39,762
- US Treasuries — 1,072
The results can only be sorted by two fields (maturity and ask yield). This limitation makes it harder to organize and review large result sets.
Selecting a bond from the results opens its profile page. At the top, a price chart is displayed. If data is available, up to five years of historical pricing can be viewed. The same technical tools used for stocks are included, such as pitchforks and Gann Fans.
Under the chart, a detailed breakdown of the bond’s characteristics is shown. Examples include:
- First interest accrued date
- Call status
- Face value
- Maturity date
- Coupon type
From the profile screen, the bond can be added to a watchlist and alerts can be set. Two trading buttons are shown—a blue button to buy and a red button to sell.
Choosing either trade option opens an order ticket that is pre-filled with the selected bond. The ticket displays the current bid-ask spread and live pricing. Both market and limit orders are supported, and you can also attach a half-bracket (take-profit only).
Bond orders are entered based on face value amounts. In most cases, this means trading in increments of 1,000. For instance, if the bond’s face value is $1,000, entering a quantity of 5 represents a $5,000 order.
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Searching for Bonds on IBKR
The Interactive Brokers desktop platform also includes a built-in bond scanner. It works much like the web-based version and uses many of the same filters. One notable difference is a preset option for agency bonds, which is not available in the web scanner.
To open the bond scanner in Trader Workstation, select the New Window menu in the top-left corner, navigate to Scanners, and choose Bond Scanner.
This will open a new window where you can define your search criteria. After setting the filters, click the Search button in the upper-right corner to display matching bonds. The results can be sorted by ask, bid, and ask yield.
Double-clicking a bond name opens a small information window with details. Single-clicking the name brings up a scatter chart showing yield-to-worst versus time to maturity.
Searches can be saved for later use by clicking the floppy disk icon in the upper-right corner.
IBKR Bonds Cost
While many brokers advertise zero commissions, this does not apply to bond transactions. At Interactive Brokers, commissions on U.S.-listed bonds are charged as a percentage of face value, and the exact rate depends on the bond category. Minimum fees range from $1 to $5, depending on the security. The maximum fee is the lesser of 1% of the trade amount or $125, with no upper cap beyond that.
Fees for European bonds follow a similar structure. Commissions are calculated as a percentage of face value (roughly 0.025% to 0.1%), with a minimum charge of €2 and no maximum limit.
Bonds traded on the Hong Kong exchange follow comparable pricing (about 0.015% to 0.08%), with no maximum fee and varying minimum charges based on the account’s monthly trading volume.
Even with commissions in place, Interactive Brokers does not apply markups or markdowns to bond trades, and the firm does not always act as the dealer. In many cases, trades can be matched directly with other Interactive Brokers clients as the counterparty.
Updated on 2/5/2026.
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
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