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Corporate Bond Data


Castanza

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I've been doing a little "educational research" into corporate bonds but I'm having a hard time finding any relevant data. Is there a reason most of this info is locked behind institutions compared to stocks? Is there some way to get access to it via license etc. other than a Bloomberg terminal?

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I've used Finra but I've heard that it isn't always accurate on the prices. Also I'm looking form something that I can pull the raw data from and use as I please. Where does finra get their information?

 

I think the Finra trade data comes from actual trades reported by brokers and dealers so I think it is highly accurate. 

There is a also a screener with it which is decent. 

 

Not sure about pulling raw data but I think the site is meant for small users as they don't want people pulling 20 pages of data all at once.  Inefficient if you ask me. 

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I've used Finra but I've heard that it isn't always accurate on the prices. Also I'm looking form something that I can pull the raw data from and use as I please. Where does finra get their information?

 

I think the Finra trade data comes from actual trades reported by brokers and dealers so I think it is highly accurate. 

There is a also a screener with it which is decent. 

 

Not sure about pulling raw data but I think the site is meant for small users as they don't want people pulling 20 pages of data all at once.  Inefficient if you ask me.

 

How does one go about getting info from brokers and dealers?

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How does one go about getting info from brokers and dealers?

Well "you" basically can't. Bonds are a very cloudy market and the brokers like it that way. Really the easiest way would be to get access to a Bloomberg terminal.

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How does one go about getting info from brokers and dealers?

Well "you" basically can't. Bonds are a very cloudy market and the brokers like it that way. Really the easiest way would be to get access to a Bloomberg terminal.

 

Doesn't that info have to exist as public information somewhere? Just spit balling here.....not super familiar with corporate bonds, but it seems "transparency" would be required by the SEC? Maybe someone else can speak to the legality side of this?

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Corporate bonds trade mostly OTC. Therefore many of the requirements that apply to equities do not apply to bonds. No NBBO, no reg NMS, no nine-bond rule, etc. It's very opaque. Your best public source for information on bonds is the Finra data.

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Castanza, there is no transparency.  AS RB notes, essentially entire Corporate Bond market is OTC... Level II in accounting speak.

 

the FINRA data *is* the public domain data... used to be way worse.

 

FYI, this is the inefficiency that Bloomberg built an empire on. :)

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The link above is TRACE. TRACE is highly accurate. From what I've seen in the bond market, virtually all transactions post on TRACE. There's certainly no way that i've ever heard of to keep a transaction from posting on TRACE.

 

However, what most people miss who are not active participants in the bond market is that bonds are nowhere near as liquid as stocks. There's plenty of illiquid bonds discussed on this board that trade once a month. Anything high yield is almost by definition illiquid.

 

Now with these bonds, since there are no daily transactions, looking at TRACE will give you no indication as to where the current market is.

 

If you want to know where the current market is you need to get market quotes from a broker. All bulge bracket firms are active in HY so if you are a decent client of theirs they will get you the info. Some smaller players like Cowen, Robert Baird, Imperial etc are also active in that market and can get you the info.

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Also Bloomberg doesn't have any data on bonds other than TRACE.

 

If you go out and buy a Bloomberg terminal you will not have anything regarding bonds you don't have today.

 

However, if you do get runs from brokers you can have them populate on your Bloomberg and use Bloomberg to look them up which is what people do who are active in the bond market.

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