Treasury Bonds at Merrill Edge
Main points:
• Merrill Edge account holders can trade U.S. Treasury securities.
• Merrill Edge does not charge commissions on Treasury bond trades.
• Merrill’s bond search tools make locating Treasury debt straightforward.
Rather than searching all over the web for a platform to trade Treasury bonds, you can open a Merrill Edge brokerage account and begin trading right away. Below is a breakdown of how it works:
Available Treasuries
Merrill Edge allows clients to trade Treasury bills, notes, and bonds. Both new-issue Treasuries and secondary-market securities are available through Merrill brokerage accounts.
Treasury Education
The Merrill Edge site includes short educational pieces on fixed-income investing, and some of these touch on Treasury securities. To access these resources, select the Research tab at the top of the site and click on Fixed Income. On the Fixed Income page, you’ll find two sub-sections dedicated to bonds: Education and Research & News.
Finding Treasuries
On the Fixed Income overview page mentioned above, you’ll see a table of bond yields. Stay on the Overview tab and scroll until the blue yield links appear. Treasuries show up in the first row, with columns for 1 year, 3 year, 5 year, 10 year, 20 year, and 30 year maturities.
Selecting a maturity opens a list of Treasury issues that fall within that term range. When we checked different maturities, several hundred individual bonds appeared. The results list can be organized using the following fields:
- CUSIP
- Maturity date
- Coupon rate
- Call date
- Offer price
- Yield to worst
- Available quantity
Clicking a bond’s CUSIP in the list opens a detailed information window.
Examples of Treasury Bonds
Here are two sample Treasury securities we came across while reviewing Merrill’s listings:
| Security |
Maturity date |
Yield |
| T-bond |
08/15/2054 |
4.804% |
| T-note |
12/31/2027 |
4.299% |
Placing a Trade for a Treasury Bond
To place an order for a particular bond, select the CUSIP from the search results to open its information panel. Inside this window, there is a trade option. Choosing it opens the order ticket, which is simple to complete. The ticket also displays extra details, including how much buying power your account has for Treasury purchases.
Treasury Funds
If you want diversification without buying individual bonds, you can trade Treasury-focused funds instead. Merrill Edge provides both ETFs and mutual funds that invest in Treasury securities. To locate these options, open the ETF or mutual fund screener from the Research tab. Filter for taxable bonds using the Morningstar asset class category. When we searched ETFs, 232 results appeared, and for mutual funds, there were 496 matches. Not every result is a Treasury fund, so you’ll need to review the list.
Merrill Edge Treasuries Fees and Minimums
Online trades of Treasuries on both the primary and secondary markets are commission-free at Merrill Edge. ETFs also trade with no commissions. Certain mutual funds may carry a $29.95 transaction fee, though some can be purchased without a commission.
Most Treasury securities at Merrill require a minimum investment of $1,000 per trade. Bond ETFs can be bought in single-share increments. Mutual fund minimums vary by fund family.
Charles Schwab as a Fallback
If you’re interested in a wider selection of Treasury funds than Merrill offers, Charles Schwab is worth considering as an alternative. In our review of Schwab’s platform, we found about 1,200 bond mutual funds, more than double Merrill’s count. Schwab also carries the same Treasury ETFs.
To trade individual bonds at Schwab, open the Trade tab at the top of the website and choose Bonds. This brings up a bond yield table similar to Merrill’s. Treasuries appear in the first row, with Treasury Zeros listed in the second row. Below the table is a blue Treasury Auctions link that shows upcoming auction listings when selected.
For secondary-market bonds, click a yield link to display a list of Treasuries with matching maturity dates. Each bond is shown in its own row with detailed information. On the left side, you’ll find a Buy link you can use to place an order.
Like Merrill Edge, Schwab does not charge commissions on primary or secondary Treasury trades. Treasury ETFs are also commission-free, while some mutual funds may involve a $74.95 transaction fee.
Unlike Merrill, Schwab also supports futures trading, including contracts tied to Treasury securities. Schwab charges $2.25 per futures contract.
Merrill Edge Treasuries Verdict
Merrill Edge makes it simple to access the Treasury market. Schwab offers a bit more flexibility and choice, although some trading costs can be higher.
Free Charles Schwab Account
Visit Schwab Website
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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