secondary brokered CDs - searching questions

[Earl E Retyre]

Questions for those who buy a lot of secondary market brokered CDs ...

Is it true that new secondary market brokered CDs can appear at any time throughout the day? I assume whenever someone wants to sell one, they put it up for sale and it shows up immediately. If so, is it just luck of the draw to find new good deals? I cannot see a way on Vanguard or Fidelity sites to notify me when a new brokered CD becomes available.

Also, while there is the capability to do some advanced criteria searches, it is not easy to quickly filter out the deals I am looking for. For example, I want to see all CDs whose yield to worst is at least x% and are either non-callable, callable with a low coupon, or callable with a call date that is at least 2 years out. Since there is no search capability to only show CDs that meet that criteria, there are hundreds of CDs I could have to scan throughout each day. How do you do it?

I have gotten a few good deals on secondary brokered CDs, but don't know if there is a better way to find them other than what I have been doing.

 

[OldShooter]

... I have gotten a few good deals on secondary brokered CDs, but don't know if there is a better way to find them other than what I have been doing.

I don't do anything nearly that complicated but if I did I would just call the bond desk at Schwab and get their help. At Schwab at least, they are not on commission, and I have found them to be both patient and helpful.

 

[pb4uski]

You can do that at Schwab but it is a number of passes. You didn't state your desired term so I chose 4-6 years to maturity.

There are 3 with a coupon of less than 2% selling at a substantial discount (~90) that are yielding ~4.1%. A number of non-callable CDs in the 4.1-4.2% range. And numerous callables with YTW of 4.6%-5.1% but that YTW only factors in the price paid and not reinvestment risk.

 

[njhowie]

New secondary market CDs show up minute to minute throughout the day. Want to see - don't put any restrictions, sort from high YTM to low, and refresh every couple minutes.

The more you restrict your search, the fewer "deals" you are going to find. You have to know what to look for, and be ready to buy the moment you see it. If it's a deal, you will not be the only one who sees it and most times it will be gone before you can place your order.

If you see a secondary market CD offer sitting there, and it's there for an hour or more, it's not a deal.