​The Bond Market is a global credit market where individuals and governments can lend and borrow money. There they can create debts as its principal activity, or buy and sell debts as its secondary market.

Investors trade bonds for a number of reasons, with the key two being—profit and protection. Investors can profit by trading bonds to pick up yield (trading up to a higher-yielding bond) or benefit from a credit upgrade (bond price increases following an upgrade).

Bonds can be bought and sold in the “secondary market” after they are issued. While some bonds are traded publicly through exchanges, most trade over-the-counter between large broker-dealers acting on their clients’ or their own behalf. Yield is therefore based on the purchase price of the bond as well as the coupon.

Bond trading is the exchange of bonds among investors. By issuing a bond, a company promises investors to make interest payments of a certain amount for a specified time period. The art of bond trading lies in finding bonds that are going to increase in value.

The Fidelity Investments website recommends a minimum of $100,000 to $200,000 to invest in individual bonds. To be taken seriously by a broker who can steer you to good bond choices, you should think of buying municipal or corporate bonds in increments of $25,000, $50,000 or $100,000.

The minimum investment required to purchase a single bond is about $1,000, though bonds are generally sold in $5,000 increments. Bonds can be purchased from several sources, including investment and commercial banks, brokers and firms that specialize in selling debt securities.

Understanding How Stocks and Bonds Work Together The reason: stocks and bonds typically don’t move in the same direction—when stocks go up, bonds usually go down, and when stocks go down, bonds usually go up—and investing in both typically provides protection for your portfolio.