Are there any (large and very financially sound) brokers who allow customers to place limit orders on their bond trades? Some of the corporate debt is so illiquid that you get one trade every few hours (or days!), and the prices across different trades can be *enormous*. In a big sell off like the one we are having, it would be interesting to test the market and place bids for illiquid bonds way below the last trade. I'm sure that some of those limit trades would find takers in a market panic. Unfortunately, several online brokers I queried refuse to work bond trades on a limit order. They want to simply guess at an execution price and ask me a yes/no to take or not take the trade.
Why do brokers do this? Assuming they aren't trying to skim points from the actual execution, why should a bond trade be any different in theory from a limit order on an illiquid stock? Customers should be able to specify what they want and at what price they want it.
I'm hoping the experienced investors here who buy bonds can explain why this archaic order system exists, and which brokers have the best technology for trading bonds.