Selling Bonds with TD Ameritrade

[barrett]

Has anyone else on here had trouble selling individual treasuries from their TD Ameritrade accounts? I have to do a "removal of excess" from an IRA which should be a fairly straight forward process as long as it's completed by April 15.

Yesterday I tried selling two batches of 30-year bonds (five bonds of one issue and seven of another) at the market price. The order was placed at 1:30PM EST and cancelled out at 5:00PM. Today I had to call them, speak with a "fixed-income specialist", have him go get me quotes, call me back for approval, and then sell them at what was ultimately a lower price as bond prices were dropping today. I have sold individual bonds with Fidelity and it's a snap. I guess I'll just use TLT for that portion of the PP with TD. It all seems a bit ridiculous considering how liquid the market for US Treasuries is.

Anyway, just an FYI for folks with TD accounts.

[dragoncar]

Some discussion here -- not much info

http://gyroscopicinvesting.com/forum/pe ... #msg115729

[barrett]

Update on this. On sale amounts under $10,000 TD Ameritrade charges .75% "on the sell price." Not the end of the world but not a trivial amount either. Still seems like TLT is a better choice for holding bonds with TD.

[dragoncar]

Update on this. On sale amounts under $10,000 TD Ameritrade charges .75% "on the sell price." Not the end of the world but not a trivial amount either. Still seems like TLT is a better choice for holding bonds with TD.

Luckily I don't have to deal with that bs anymore- 401k administrator changing.  Not sure is Schwab is any better

[Pointedstick]

Update on this. On sale amounts under $10,000 TD Ameritrade charges .75% "on the sell price." Not the end of the world but not a trivial amount either. Still seems like TLT is a better choice for holding bonds with TD.

Luckily I don't have to deal with that bs anymore- 401k administrator changing.  Not sure is Schwab is any better

They are worse for selling bonds. Flat $75 per bond sold. At least with TDAmeritrade, you can buy more bonds in order to eliminate the selling fee when you later realize you should have gone with TLT for lower cost and less hassle.

[dragoncar]

Update on this. On sale amounts under $10,000 TD Ameritrade charges .75% "on the sell price." Not the end of the world but not a trivial amount either. Still seems like TLT is a better choice for holding bonds with TD.

Luckily I don't have to deal with that bs anymore- 401k administrator changing.  Not sure is Schwab is any better

They are worse for selling bonds. Flat $75 per bond sold. At least with TDAmeritrade, you can buy more bonds in order to eliminate the selling fee when you later realize you should have gone with TLT for lower cost and less hassle.

Ugh, ok I guess I don't need any more bonds in that account anyways.  Even if I hold the bonds 10 years, that's still like a .75% annual expense ratio -- I can hold a basket of stocks for less??

Guess I'm glad I re-balanced before the changeover.