selling T bills on vanguard

[dan916]

Hi, does anyone have a tutorial on how to sell your T bills on vanguard? Its confusing and doesn't really tell me what my expected sale price would be. Is there anything to adjust on the sale order?
Also, are they sold in real time, or at end of day like mutual funds?

Thanks!

[sycamore]

Hi, does anyone have a tutorial on how to sell your T bills on vanguard? Its confusing and doesn't really tell me what my expected sale price would be. Is there anything to adjust on the sale order?
Also, are they sold in real time, or at end of day like mutual funds?

Thanks!

[Edit: good grief, I thought you were asking about buying ]

Briefly...

There are two main ways to buy: at a Treasury auction, or on the secondary market.

Harry Sit (he's a Boglehead) has a blog post about How to Buy Treasury Bills & Notes On the Secondary Market. There's a section specifically about Vanguard.

Treasuries are traded on the open market -- there's no "net asset value" pricing like with mutual funds.

The main thing you specify is how much you want to get back at maturity. It'll be in $1,000 increments, like $5,000. The net amount that you pay up front will be less than that -- the difference is what you'll earn in interest at maturity.

[dan916]

When selling, there is not limit price like for stocks?
Lets say I want to sell 10 notes. I should just put in the sell order and it will sell at marker rate?

Is it sold at end day or at the time i input the sale?

Thanks!

[jebmke]

When selling, there is not limit price like for stocks?
Lets say I want to sell 10 notes. I should just put in the sell order and it will sell at marker rate?

Is it sold at end day or at the time i input the sale?

Thanks!

The order will go in right away and normally they clear quickly.

[LadyGeek]

Thedoc2049 has a question which I've moved into a new thread. See: Should I sell my 30 day T-Bill?

(Thanks to the member who reported the post and explained what's wrong.)

[Kevin M]

Hi, does anyone have a tutorial on how to sell your T bills on vanguard? Its confusing and doesn't really tell me what my expected sale price would be. Is there anything to adjust on the sale order?
Also, are they sold in real time, or at end of day like mutual funds?

Thanks!

Can't really walk through the process until the market is open on Monday.

In general, you select the bid quote for the minimum quantity that is appropriate for you, and click Sell next to that bid. The price and yield are displayed, so you know what you are getting.

After completing the order and clicking Submit, your order usually will be executed within seconds, but occasionally it will not execute right away, and rarely the order will not be filled at all, and you'll need to submit it again.

Kevin

[Lyrrad]

Treasuries are traded on the open market -- there's no "net asset value" pricing like with mutual funds.

Also note that unlike stocks and ETFs, I don't think there's a single market for these bills. You may see better or worse bid-ask spreads from different brokerages, and you may get better pricing when buying or selling smaller quantities.

I've found Vanguard and Fidelity to have similar pricing, and Schwab appears to often have slightly better pricing for lower quantities. This could have more significance for the less liquid Treasury securities where the bid-ask spreads are wider.