Trade Activity and Trade History Data
FINRA provides real-time market trade information for Corporate and Agency bonds, Securitized Products (ABS, CMO, MBS, TBA) and Private Placement (144A) bonds including execution date and time, quantity, price, and yield as reported to TRACE (Trade Reporting And Compliance Engine). Since the bond market is less liquid than most markets for stocks, there may be no trade activity in a security for a period of time.
Trade History, which is accessible from an individual security page, includes up to three years intraday pricing information. Trade Activity, which is accessible per product type from the main Fixed Income page, includes up to 10 years end of day data.
For Treasury or Municipal bonds information, please visit Treasury Direct or MSRB.
Data is disseminated on executed bond trades, not bond quotes. The TRACE system has no execution capability, nor can it accept quotations. To learn about how to buy and sell bonds, see Buying and Selling Bonds.
Glossary
| Data field | Definition | Why we share this data |
|---|---|---|
| As-Of | A trade reported by a brokerage firm on a date later than the actual trade date. As-Of trades are not included in the day's market aggregates (i.e., high, low, last sales), but, if eligible for dissemination, will be included when received with the date of execution indicated. | So that investors can track that a trade appeared at a later date than the day the trade occurred. |
| ATS | The ATS Indicator is used to show if the trade occurred on an Alternative Trading System (ATS). ATS is not a national exchange but must be registered and approved by the SEC as broker-dealers. An ATS tends to deal in high-volume transactions. Possible values for ATS are:
ATS is not relevant to TBA trades. |
So that investors will know where trades are occurring for the sake of market transparency. |
| Contra Party Type | A contra broker is a broker that is taking the opposite side of a transaction initiated by another broker. For example, in a transaction in which a broker wishes to sell securities to another broker, the buyer would be a contra broker for the purposes of that transaction. Conversely, when a broker is looking to buy, a contra broker would be on the sell side of that transaction. Contra Party Type indicates whether the contra party of the transaction is a broker-dealer or a customer. Values for Contra Party Type are:
Contra party information is not dissemintated for CMO trades. |
So that investors can see who was involved in a transaction and in what capability. |
| Date | The date the trade was reported to regulators via TRACE (Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine). | So that investors can locate the transactions of a particular day. |
| Modifier | This field will indicate if there are any special conditions or modifiers applicable to the trade transaction. Associated values are:
|
So that investors can understand why the trades on a given day changed from one day to the next. |
| 2nd Modifier | This field is used to describe a second sale condition that is applicable to the trade. Associated values are:
|
So that investors can have insight into how a bond trade price was determined. |
| Quantity | Bonds are generally issued in multiples of $1,000, also known as a bond's face or par value. Quantity is used to indicate the par value of the trade. For a particular trade in an investment-grade corporate bond, the actual quantity of the transaction will be shown, up to and including $5 million par (face) value. For any trade greater than $5 million, the par value will be displayed as "$5MM+." For a trade in a non-investment grade corporate bond, the actual quantity of the trade will be shown up to and including $1 million par value. For any trade greater than $1 million, the par value will be displayed as "$1MM+. |
To learn more about bond prices, see Bond Basics. |
| Latest Price | The Price figure is calculated from 8:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Eastern Time. The reported price is the all-in price for a trade, inclusive of a mark-up or markdown. If there is a commission on the trade, it will be entered in a separate field on the trade report, but will be disseminated as the combined price. Price data is disseminated on executed bond trades, not bond quotes. The TRACE system has no execution capability, nor can it accept quotations. |
To learn more about bond prices, see Bond Basics To learn about how to buy and sell bonds, see Buying and Selling Bonds. |
| Renumeration | The Remuneration field is used to identify the type of compensation included on trade reports. Values for Remuneration are:
Remuneration information is not dissemintated for CMO trades. |
The remuneration helps customers understand reported trade prices by disclosing the type of compensation, if any, included in the reported trade. |
| Reporting Party Type | The Reporting Party reports the trades to TRACE. Reporting Party Type indicates what type of entity reported the trade. Values for Reporting Party Type are:
Reporting Party Type is not disseminated for CMO trades. |
So that investors can see who was involved in a transaction and in what capability. |
| Side | Side indicates whether the transaction is a buy or sell. Only the sell side of an inter-dealer (broker-dealer to broker-dealer) transaction is disseminated. Values for Side are:
Side information is not dissemintated for CMO trades. |
So that investors can see who was involved in a transaction and in what capability. |
| Special | This field indicates the existence of a special trade condition that impacted the execution price, or if the transaction is a “specified trade.” Associated values are:
|
So that investors can have insight into how a bond trade price was determined. |
| Settlement | The date the trade was settled. Trade settlement is the process of moving securities into a buyer's account and cash into the seller's account. | So that buyers and sellers know when their accounts should be updated. |
| Time | The actual trade time corresponding to the time stamp on the trader's ticket and reported by the FINRA member firm into TRACE. If the trade reported was an As-Of Trade or a Reversal, this field will be populated with the time (as well as the date) on which the original trade was executed. In trades where the price is determined by a spread off a benchmark, the execution time will be considered the time that the benchmark yield is determined. Time is always reported in Eastern Time, regardless of the time zone in which the trade occurred. | So that investors can track the price of a security overtime and locate the transactions of a particular day. |
| Trade Status | Indicates if the transaction being disseminated is being taken out because either it is being cancelled or was done in error. Associated values are
|
So that investors can understand why a trade appeared out of order or was removed from a previous report. |
| Yield | Yield is a general term that relates to the return on the capital you invest in a bond and is expressed as a percentage. There are different ways to calculate yield. We share the lower of Yield to Call (retirement of the bond at a date prior to maturity) or Yield to Maturity. This type of yield is called Yield to Worst (YTW) and is generally used to provide the most conservite potential return a bond can give you. For certain variable-rate securities and defaulted bonds trading flat of accrued interest, no yield will be displayed. For certain bonds with unknown variables, yield is not required. For example, yield is not required for floating rate notes (FRNs), step-up or step-down bonds for which the steps are not known, Pay-in-Kind (PIK) bonds, perpetual bonds, or index-linked bonds. |
To learn more about yield and return, see Understanding Bond Yield and Return |