Knowledge Base

The best source for you will likely depend on the nature of your research (general exploration or large project), what type of bonds you are focused on, and what types of information you need.

For Individual Bonds

For bond trading data for a few bonds, we recommend LSEG Workspace – see LSEG Workspace access help.

To see trading data for an entity's bond:

1. Load an entity's profile and in the tabs go to Debt & Credit > Debt Structure to see what bonds they have issued.
2. Click on the bond to see more details and use the Charts or Price History tabs.
3. Change the interval and dates as needed.
4. Use the Excel icon to export to Excel.

Note: LSEG Workspace only has intraday data for the most recent 3 months at 1, 5, and 30 minute intervals.

For a Larger Dataset

These sources are often used in papers. You can Ask Us to discuss your project so we can help identify the best options. Notes:

• geographic coverage improves over time (emerging markets have less history than the U.S.)
• while the U.S. distinguishes between sovereign and municipal bonds, not all countries do (many won't have what we think of as muni bonds and instead all government issuances will come from a central entity and so may be classified as sovereign bonds)

Corporate Bonds

• TRACE – see WRDS access help
  • Go to source for US corporate and government agency-issued bonds from 2002.
  • Contains all bond trades, so the data is intraday/tick-level.
• Bond Returns by WRDS – see WRDS access help
  • Combines TRACE and Mergent FISD and provides linking to security data via CRSP.
  • Includes monthly price, return coupon, and yield information for US corporate bonds from 2002.
• Datastream – see Datastream access help
  • Go to source for global corporate bonds from the 1960s.
  • Contains end of day bid, mid & ask composite prices, and end of day REPS bid, mid & ask evaluated prices.
• Bloomberg Terminals* – see Bloomberg access help
  • See * for tips. Coverage is global and while there are earlier bonds, coverage picks up in the 1950s.

Municipal Bonds

• MSRB: Municipal Securities Transaction Data – see WRDS access help
  • Contains all bond trades (intraday).
• Datastream – see Datastream access help
  • Go to source for global muni bonds from the 1960s.
  • Contains end of day bid, mid & ask composite prices, and end of day REPS bid, mid & ask evaluated prices.
• Bloomberg Terminals* – see Bloomberg access help
  • See * for tips. Coverage is global and while there are earlier bonds, coverage picks up in the 1950s.

Note: If needing a low level of geography (like county or city) it can be hard to tease out all of the city or county-level municipal bond issuers separate from the city/county's general obligation debt.

Sovereign Bonds

• Datastream – see Datastream access help
  • Go to source for global sovereign bonds from the 1960s.
  • Contains end of day bid, mid & ask composite prices, and end of day REPS bid, mid & ask evaluated prices.
• Bloomberg Terminals* – see Bloomberg access help
  • See * for tips. Coverage is global and while there are earlier bonds, coverage picks up in the 1950s.
• CRSP: Treasuries – see WRDS access help
  • Daily or monthly data on US Treasuries from the 1960s (data is updated annually).

*Bloomberg Terminals have bond data but download limits make large projects infeasible. If the other sources don't meet your needs we encourage you to Ask Us so we can explore any other options.