Bond Market Fundamentals
Yield Spreads and Benchmark Selection
Master yield spread analysis and benchmark selection to optimize bond portfolio risk-adjusted returns.
beginner 2025-12-30
Bond Market Fundamentals
20 articles in this subtopic.
Bond Market Fundamentals
Primary Issuance vs. Secondary Trading Workflows
Where you buy bonds—primary issuance or secondary market—affects pricing by 0.5-2%, a difference that compounds over a portfolio's lifetime.
beginner 2025-12-26
Bond Market Fundamentals
Reading Bond Quotes and Price Conventions
Misreading a bond quote by confusing clean and dirty price costs $15-25 per $1,000 face value—the accrued interest you forgot to account for.
beginner 2025-12-22
Bond Market Fundamentals
What Is a Bond? Coupons, Par, and Accrued Interest
Understanding bond mechanics—coupons, par value, and accrued interest—determines whether you pay the right price for fixed income.
beginner 2025-12-13
Bond Market Fundamentals
Understanding Bond Indentures and Covenants
Covenanted first-lien debt recovered 72 cents on the dollar versus 61 for covenant-lite; indenture terms decide what a default costs bondholders.
intermediate 2025-11-28
Bond Market Fundamentals
Odd-Lot Trading and Liquidity Considerations
Bond trades under $100,000 pay spreads 2-5x institutional levels; TRACE checks, limit orders, and longer holding periods claw back much of the odd-lot penalty.
beginner 2025-11-21
Bond Market Fundamentals
Day-Count Conventions and Settlement Cycles
Using the wrong day-count convention creates $2-5 per $1,000 calculation errors—small individually, material across a portfolio.
intermediate 2025-11-15
Bond Market Fundamentals
What Is a Bond? Coupons, Par, and Accrued Interest
Master bond mechanics—coupons, par, and accrued interest—to optimize yield while managing risk in fixed income portfolios.
beginner 2025-11-03
Bond Market Fundamentals
Treasury vs. Corporate vs. Agency Markets Overview
Treasuries price rate risk, agencies price prepayment and negative convexity, corporates price default and liquidity; each spread pays for a distinct risk.
beginner 2025-10-29
Bond Market Fundamentals
Coupon Types: Fixed, Floating, and Step-Up
Fixed coupons lock income but expose principal to rates, floaters trade price stability for income swings, and step-ups escalate but are often callable.
beginner 2025-10-27
Bond Market Fundamentals
Treasury vs. Corporate vs. Agency Markets Overview
Treasuries, agency debt, and corporate bonds trade off safety, yield, and liquidity differently; each segment's risk profile decides its portfolio role.
beginner 2025-10-14
Bond Market Fundamentals
How Credit Ratings Are Assigned at Issuance
Credit ratings at issuance anchor bond valuations and risk assessments. Master their mechanics to refine security selection and pricing intuition.
beginner 2025-10-03
Bond Market Fundamentals
Who Trades Bonds? Dealers, Platforms, and Investors
Retail investors pay 0.5-1.5% more in transaction costs than institutions—the market structure tax on small positions.
beginner 2025-09-27
Bond Market Fundamentals
Callable, Putable, and Convertible Bonds
Embedded options transfer risk between issuers and investors—understanding who holds the option determines whether you're compensated or exploited.
intermediate 2025-09-14
Bond Market Fundamentals
Coupon Types: Fixed, Floating, and Step-Up
Choosing the wrong coupon structure in a rising rate environment cost fixed-rate holders 15-20% in 2022—floaters lost less than 1%.
beginner 2025-09-14
Bond Market Fundamentals
How Credit Ratings Are Assigned at Issuance
Rating agencies predicted only 40% of 2008 defaults within 12 months—the lag that makes ratings a starting point, not a conclusion.
intermediate 2025-09-05
Bond Market Fundamentals
ETF Share Creation Impact on Bonds
Bond ETF investors routinely trade tens of thousands of times per day on exchanges while the underlying bonds they represent might change hands 37 times each.
intermediate 2025-09-04
Bond Market Fundamentals
Clean Price vs. Dirty Price Distinctions
Every bond trade involves two prices—the one you see quoted and the one you actually pay.
beginner 2025-08-13
Bond Market Fundamentals
Checklist for Evaluating a New Bond Issue
New bond issues hit the market at a relentless pace—over $2.0 trillion in U.S. corporate bonds were issued in 2024 alone, up 30.6% year-over-year (SIFMA).
intermediate 2025-08-11
Bond Market Fundamentals
Bond Math Basics: Price/Yield Relationship
When interest rates rise, your bond portfolio drops in value—sometimes sharply. In 2022, the Bloomberg U.S.
beginner 2025-08-09