Buying bonds online with IB and Fidelity

[Roberto]

When I order US Treasuries (5k or 10k) through Interactive Brokers, I get an order confirmation, but then the order just sits there for days and nothing happens;  although one one occasion it went through immediately, so I know I'm following the correct procedure.  Usually I just give up and place the same order through Fidelity, which for whatever reason executes it immediately.  Has anyone else had this experience or know what might be happening here?

Is it common for there to be a lag time with electronic bond purchases?  If so, what about using market vs. limit orders?

[SteveGo]

I have never had to wait for more than a minute or so. It is slower than an equity transaction. Have you turned on the Bond Market Data? If you are not getting real-time prices, you may not have set your order limit at an executable price. The Bond Market data costs $1 per month, but you can turn it back off when you are not trading bonds.

I always use limit orders, but for that you need the real-time data.

[Roberto]

Yes, I have the bond market data on, and I'm not even using limit orders.  I guess that's risky, but I thought a market order should definitely happen fast: nope, it doesn't execute.  I consistently get a brief popup saying that my "order size is small so there may not be a market for it;"  but Fidelity executes it right away, whether it's 5k or 10k.  I called IB customer service, and am told I just need to be more patient! 

[dragoncar]

That sucks.. I've bought bonds a few times on both platforms and in my experience they are both slow, but by that I minutes vs. stocks which I can watch execute in seconds.

I don't have bond market data, and I'm pretty sure I use market orders for both.  I just want that shot executed, so I hate playing the "move the limit" game.  It would really throw off my rebalancing project if I had to spread it out over multiple days.  I want to do it in under an hour and get on with my life!