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When you trade bonds through your broker, you need to place an order. Your broker would require some specific information from you before your order can be accepted. Depending on your broker you may have to provide various specs for your order, but the following items are a good representation of what you would need to provide:

• Market Price - By choosing market price (sometimes referred to as best price), you agree that your broker buy or sell your order at the going price, whatever that may be. Market price orders have the advantage of immediate execution in most cases. The disadvantage however is that you have no control over the price. For example, your buy order may get executed for a much higher price than you had anticipated. If you choose market price, you let the market decide the price for you.
• Limit Price - Rather than going along with the market's mood, you can request a certain price for your order. In this case your order cannot be executed at a worse price, but it may get executed for a better price. For example, if you set a limit price of $100 to buy 30-year T-bonds, your order will not be filled until the T-bond's price is at or below $100. The advantage of a …