Fixed Income

Overview of Fixed Income Products

Alpaca offers Broker API partners access to a growing range of fixed income securities. These products provide a way for end-users to diversify their portfolios with debt instruments.

Product Categories

• U.S. Treasuries: Sovereign debt securities issued by the U.S. government. We currently support Treasury Bills (T-Bills) and will be expanding to include Treasury Notes (T-Notes) and Treasury Bonds (T-Bonds).
• U.S. Corporate Bonds: Debt securities issued by U.S. corporations. We support a variety of investment-grade, and high-yield bonds.

Key Features

• API-Driven Trading: All trading and data retrieval is executed via the Broker API.
• Best-Price Execution: Alpaca aggregates quotes from multiple liquidity providers to ensure competitive pricing during U.S. bond market hours.
• Broad Access: Available to all Broker API partners and their end-users.
• Full Denominations: Securities are traded in full denominations, typically in increments of $1,000 face value. Fractional trading is planned for a future release.

---

Trading and Orders

The core mechanics of placing and managing orders are consistent across all fixed income products.

Market Hours

• Regular Hours: 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM ET.
• Pre-Market and After-Hours Queue: Orders submitted between 4.00 PM - 9:30 AM ET (next day) are queued and sent for execution at the market open. For weekends, orders submitted between 4.00 PM on Friday until 9.30 AM ET Monday will be queued and executed on Monday when the market opens.

Order Management

• Placing Orders: All orders are submitted via the API. Currently, market and limit orders with a day time-in-force are supported.
• Order Queuing: Orders placed outside of market hours are given an accepted status and are executed when the market reopens.
• Cancellations:
  • During Market Hours: Cancellation requests are sent to the execution venue immediately.
  • Outside Market Hours: Orders with an accepted status are cancelled immediately. Orders already sent to a venue will become pending_cancel until the market reopens.

Order Size

• Minimum Order Size: $1,000 face value.
• Maximum Order Size: $1,000,000 face value.

Pricing, Markups, and Fees

• Clean Price: Prices are quoted as a percentage of the bond's par value (face value). This is the "clean price" and does not include accrued interest. The final settlement amount will include any accrued interest for coupon-bearing bonds.
• Markups: Markups from Alpaca and/or partners are included in the final execution price.
• Regulatory Fees: Sales of U.S. Treasuries are reportable to the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE) and incur a small regulatory fee.

---

U.S. Treasuries API Reference

U.S. Treasury Bills (T-Bills) are short-term government debt securities with maturities of one year or less. They are issued at a discount and redeemed at face value at maturity, with no periodic coupon payments.

List U.S. Treasuries

Retrieve a list of available U.S. Treasury securities.

• Endpoint: GET /v1/assets/fixed_income/us_treasuries
• Sandbox URL: https://broker-api.sandbox.alpaca.markets/v1/assets/fixed_income/us_treasuries
• Production URL: https://broker-api.alpaca.markets/v1/assets/fixed_income/us_treasuries

Query Parameters:

Sample Response:

JSON

{
  "us_treasuries": [
    {
      "cusip": "912797MU8",
      "isin": "US912797MU86",
      "bond_status": "outstanding",
      "tradable": true,
      "subtype": "bill",
      "issue_date": "2025-02-13",
      "maturity_date": "2025-03-27",
      "description": "United States Treasury 0.0%, 03/27/2025",
      "description_short": "UST 0.0% 03/27/2025",
      "close_price": 99.6839,
      "close_price_date": "2025-02-27",
      "close_yield_to_maturity": 4.214,
      "close_yield_to_worst": 4.214,
      "coupon": 0,
      "coupon_type": "zero",
      "coupon_frequency": "zero"
    }
  ]
}

Get Latest Prices

Retrieve the latest real-time prices for specified U.S. Treasuries.

• Endpoint: GET /v1/assets/fixed_income/us_treasuries/prices

Query Parameters:

Sample Response:

JSON

{
  "prices": {
    "US912797KJ59": {
      "t": "2025-02-14T20:58:00.648Z",
      "p": 99.6459,
      "ytm": 4.249,
      "ytw": 4.249
    },
    "US912797KS58": {
      "t": "2025-02-14T20:58:00.648Z",
      "p": 99.3193,
      "ytm": 4.2245,
      "ytw": 4.2245
    }
  }
}

---

U.S. Corporate Bonds API Reference

Corporate bonds are debt instruments issued by corporations. They typically pay periodic interest (coupons) and repay the principal at maturity. Alpaca currently supports non-puttable, non-reg-s, non-144a corporate bonds, but work is in progress to add more soon.

List U.S. Corporate Bonds

Retrieve a list of available U.S. Corporate Bonds.

• Endpoint: GET /v1/assets/fixed_income/us_corporates
• Sandbox URL: https://broker-api.sandbox.alpaca.markets/v1/assets/fixed_income/us_corporates
• Production URL: https://broker-api.alpaca.markets/v1/assets/fixed_income/us_corporates

Query Parameters:

Sample Response:

JSON

{
  "us_corporates": [
    {
      "cusip": "00138CAU2",
      "isin": "US00138CAU27",
      "bond_status": "outstanding",
      "tradable": true,
      "ticker": "AIG",
      "issue_date": "2023-07-03",
      "maturity_date": "2026-07-02",
      "issuer": "Corebridge Global Funding",
      "description": "Corebridge Global Funding 5.75%, 07/02/2026",
      "coupon": 5.75,
      "coupon_type": "fixed",
      "coupon_frequency": "semi_annual",
      "close_price": 101.2792,
      "close_price_date": "2025-08-13",
      "close_yield_to_maturity": 4.252774,
      "close_yield_to_worst": 4.252774
    }
  ]
}

Get Latest Prices

This endpoint is the same as for Treasuries and can be used to query prices for corporate bonds using their ISINs.

---

Common Trading Endpoints

These endpoints are used for trading and managing positions for both U.S. Treasuries and Corporate Bonds.

Create an Order

• Endpoint: POST /v1/accounts/{account_id}/orders

Path Parameters:

Body Parameters:

Sample Request (Treasury):

JSON

{
  "symbol": "912797MU8",
  "qty": "1000",
  "side": "buy",
  "type": "market",
  "time_in_force": "day"
}

Sample Request (Corporate Bond):

JSON

{
  "symbol": "06050WFN0",
  "qty": "1000",
  "side": "buy",
  "type": "market",
  "time_in_force": "day"
}

Sample Response (Order Confirmation):

JSON

{
  "id": "7b08df51-c1ac-453c-99f9-323a5f075f0d",
  "client_order_id": "5680c4bc-9ac1-4a12-a44c-df427ba53032",
  "created_at": "2025-03-26T14:13:02.790553657Z",
  "symbol": "912797MU8",
  "asset_class": "treasury", // Will be "corporate" for corporate bonds
  "qty": "1000",
  "filled_qty": "0",
  "type": "market",
  "side": "buy",
  "time_in_force": "day",
  "status": "pending_new",
  ...
}

List Open Positions

• Endpoint: GET /v1/accounts/{account_id}/positions

Sample Response (Treasury Position):

JSON

[
  {
    "asset_id": "904837e3-3b76-47ec-b432-046db621571b",
    "symbol": "912797MU8",
    "asset_class": "treasury",
    "avg_entry_price": "98.0",
    "qty": "2000",
    "market_value": "1980.0",
    "cost_basis": "1960.0",
    "current_price": "99.0"
  }
]

Trade Events (Server-Sent Events)

Receive real-time updates on the status of orders, including fills. Refer to the guide on the order life cycle for more details on event statuses.

Sample Response (Filled Order):

JSON

{
  "account_id": "529248ad-c4cc-4a50-bea4-6bfd2953f83a",
  "at": "2022-04-19T14:12:30.656741Z",
  "event": "fill",
  "order": {
    "id": "edada91a-8b55-4916-a153-8c7a9817e708",
    "symbol": "912797MU8",
    "asset_class": "treasury",
    "side": "buy",
    "status": "filled",
    "filled_qty": "1000",
    "filled_avg_price": "98.72",
    "filled_at": "2022-04-19T10:12:30.609783218-04:00"
    ...
  }
}

---

Custody, Settlement, and Compliance

Security Identifiers

We support both CUSIP (9-character) and ISIN (12-character) identifiers for all fixed income securities.

Tradability

To determine if a bond is available for trading, check the tradable boolean field in the asset object returned from the /assets endpoints. If true, the security can be traded.

Custody

• U.S. Treasuries: Custodied with our partner, BMO.
• Corporate Bonds: Self-custodied by Alpaca at the Depository Trust Company (DTC), similar to equities.

Settlement Cycle

• U.S. T-Bills: Settle on a T+1 basis (trade date + 1 business day).
• Corporate Bonds: Settle on a T+2 basis (trade date + 2 business days).

Compliance

• End-Users: No additional suitability assessments or agreements are required.
• Partners: A technical sign-off is needed before enabling fixed income products in a production environment.
• Confirmations: All trade confirmations and statements comply with SEC Rule 10b-10.

The content of this presentation is for general information only and is believed to be accurate as of posting date but may be subject to change.

Fixed income securities can experience a greater risk of principal loss when interest rates rise. These investments are also subject to additional risks, including credit quality fluctuations, market volatility, liquidity constraints, prepayment or early redemption, corporate actions, tax implications, and other influencing factors.

All investments involve risk, and the past performance of a security, or financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. There is no guarantee that any investment strategy will achieve its objectives. Please note that diversification does not ensure a profit, or protect against loss. There is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities, or other financial products. Investors should consider their investment objectives and risks carefully before investing.

Securities brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC ("Alpaca Securities"), member FINRA/SIPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. Technology and services are offered by AlpacaDB, Inc.

This is not an offer, solicitation of an offer, or advice to buy or sell securities or open a brokerage account in any jurisdiction where Alpaca Securities is not registered or licensed, as applicable.