Yes, you can buy Treasury bills on Fidelity, in two ways: new bills at the Treasury's own auctions, and bills already issued, bought on the secondary market. Both are ordered online at Fidelity.com, where Fidelity charges $0 for either; through a Fidelity representative, an auction order or a secondary-market purchase costs $19.95 per trade. Auction orders go in as non-competitive bids, from one $1,000 bond upward in $1,000 steps, up to $10 million per household for each type and term of security.
Fidelity's terms below come from its own pages, read on 14 October 2026, chiefly its US Treasury page, commission schedule, FAQs and how-to guides. No yield is printed: bill rates are set at each auction, weekly for most terms, and the Treasury's official results are linked from TreasuryDirect's Treasury bills page. What a bill is lives on what Treasury bills are; the three ways to buy one are compared on how to buy Treasury bills.
What Fidelity sells
Fidelity's Treasury page says new Treasuries "can be purchased at auctions held by the government", older ones on the secondary market, and "Both types of orders can be placed through Fidelity". Its FAQ calls an auction purchase a new issue, bought from the issuer.
- Terms. The Treasury sells seven regular bill terms: 4, 6, 8, 13, 17, 26 and 52 weeks. Fidelity's Auto Roll page names all seven as eligible for its roll-over service.
- Size. Auction orders start at one bond and rise in one-bond steps; on the ticket, "A quantity of 1 = $1,000 par value", so $10,000 of face value is a quantity of 10.
- Price. Fidelity explains that when you buy a T-bill, "you pay less than its face value and then receive the bill's face value when it matures". The auction sets the price; what Treasury bills are shows how a discount rate becomes one.
- Timing. Fidelity's learning-centre article says new-issue auctions are typically posted a few days ahead of their auction date, while bills already trading may be bought and sold when bond markets are open.
- The account. Fidelity says there are no minimums to open an account.
Fidelity describes Treasuries as backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. They are not bank deposits, and the FDIC lists Treasury bills among the products it does not insure; are CDs FDIC insured sets that guarantee beside deposit insurance.
What it costs
| Order | Online at Fidelity.com | With a Fidelity representative |
|---|---|---|
| Auction order (new issue) | $0 | $19.95 per trade |
| Secondary-market purchase | $0 | Flat $19.95 per trade |
| Secondary-market sale | $0 | Not spelled out for Treasuries |
| Auto Roll purchase | No additional service fee | — |
Online, the commission table shows $0 for Treasury "Auctions and secondary issues", and Fidelity's secondary-market guide says "$0 mark-up/down for US Treasuries traded online." Through a representative, the footnotes put $19.95 on auction orders and a flat $19.95 per trade on Treasury purchases, naming purchases only, so this page does not extend it to a sale. Bond orders cannot be placed through FAST, Fidelity's automated phone service, so a phone order means a representative.
The $0 is Fidelity's own charge, not necessarily the whole spread: on secondary trades, the commission page says, the offering broker, which may be a Fidelity affiliate, may separately mark the price up or down and make a trading profit or loss. Auto Roll purchases are charged as online ones are.
Illustrative: the $19.95 against a bill's discount
A bill's whole return is its discount, so a flat charge weighs more on a short or small bill. Take $10,000 of face value at an illustrative discount rate of 4.000%, a round figure for the arithmetic, not a current auction result, priced with the Treasury's formula: price per $100 = 100 × (1 − rate × days ÷ 360).
| Bill, illustrative 4.000% discount rate | Days | Price per $100 | $10,000 of face costs | Discount at maturity | $19.95 as a share of the discount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4-week | 28 | 99.688889 | $9,968.89 | $31.11 | 64% |
| 13-week | 91 | 98.988889 | $9,898.89 | $101.11 | 20% |
| 26-week | 182 | 97.977778 | $9,797.78 | $202.22 | 10% |
| 52-week | 364 | 95.955556 | $9,595.56 | $404.44 | 5% |
On a single $1,000 bond the same charge is more than the whole illustrative discount on a 4- or 13-week bill ($3.11 and $10.11), and all but 27 cents of a 26-week bill's $20.22. Online, Fidelity's charge on each is $0.
Buying at auction on Fidelity.com
Fidelity's auction how-to guide sets out the path:
- Find the auction. On the Fixed Income, Bonds & CDs research page, select New Issue and the product type Treasury. Each bill's research page shows the auction date, the "Date on which an executed trade of securities must be paid for" and an estimated yield based on the secondary market; "The actual yield will be based on auction result."
- Fill in the ticket. Choose the account the bill is bought into, enter the quantity in $1,000 bonds, and answer Yes or No to Auto Roll.
- Preview, then place the order.
For new-issue Treasuries, Fidelity's FAQ says, "you can place a Market Order", and it describes the auction bid as a non-competitive one of up to $10,000,000: "A noncompetitive bid means that you agree to accept the high rate or yield set at auction." You choose the amount, not the rate. The FAQ says institutions can enter competitive bids.
The $10 million, 10,000 bonds, is a household limit. Fidelity says the Treasury caps non-competitive purchases at $10 million per household for each security type and term, that one household's bids in the same auction must add up to no more than that, and that it "reserves the right to adjust or cancel auction orders that violate the $10 million household limit."
Once placed, the order shows as open until the auction is complete on auction day, and the guide warns: "Submission of order doesn't guarantee a fill." Fidelity's settlement table says Treasuries generally settle one business day after the trade, "Except for auction orders, which may take longer". Fidelity may also require the full purchase price in your account for some purchases, including first-time trades and one-day-settlement products.
Buying a bill already trading
A secondary-market bill comes with whatever time it has left to run. Fidelity's guide covers the ticket:
- Offers. Each Treasury's Bid and Ask columns show the best prices to sell and to buy, "along with the total quantity and minimum increment available at that price", and Depth of Book lists additional dealer bids and offers, which may have different minimums. The minimum is the offer's, not the auction's one bond.
- Order types. The best offer fills in as your limit price. Fill or Kill is preselected and needs the whole quantity at that price; if the dealer does not fill it within 5 minutes, it expires. A Day order lets you set a different price, with a lower likelihood of a fill, and stays open until it fills, you cancel it or the trading day ends.
- Hours. Orders can be entered in the standard session, generally 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern; the bond market occasionally closes early, at 2 p.m., for a market holiday.
- Payment. Fidelity's 2024 settlement notice lists US Treasuries as already settling one business day after the trade, and says of a secondary purchase: "This T+1 settlement date is when you will see the money withdrawn from your cash core to pay for the bond."
A bill bought this way cannot be enrolled in Auto Roll.
At maturity
Nothing needs doing. When a bill matures, Fidelity deposits its face value into your account's cash core position, typically on the maturity date, and "the cash is available for you to reinvest or withdraw that same day." On the occasions Fidelity has not received the funds by then, the bill stays listed in your positions until it does. If the bill is enrolled in Auto Roll, the money buys its replacement instead.
Auto Roll for Treasury bills
Auto Roll is Fidelity's opt-in service for reinvesting maturing principal automatically, and for Treasuries it covers only those bought at auction.
- What qualifies. 4-, 6-, 8-, 13-, 17-, 26- and 52-week bills and 2-, 3- and 5-year notes, all from auctions. TIPS, cash management bills and all secondary-market Treasuries are excluded.
- Signing up. Accept the Auto Roll Service Agreement, subscribe to Fidelity Alerts and select Yes on the order ticket. The alerts carry the notices, including a maturing-position alert naming the replacement.
- What it buys. Fidelity applies "the same face value and same term to maturity as the initial position", using only the maturing principal; no interest payment is included. A $10,000 face 13-week bill rolls into a $10,000 face 13-week bill at the upcoming auction, whose rate, Fidelity warns, may be lower or higher than the original's.
- Cancelling one roll. After the maturing-position alert, a Treasury purchase can be cancelled "up until the end of the day prior to auction date", through the alert's Cancel option or by calling a representative with the CUSIP.
- When it stops. You can leave the service at any time without penalty. A position's roll also ends if you cancel it, sell part of the position or add to it, delete your subscription, or if the Treasury auction schedule changes materially; unsubscribing from Fidelity Alerts cancels it across the accounts chosen.
- Below-zero check. If an auction's Expected Yield is below zero at 8 a.m. Eastern each morning of the open-order period, Fidelity does not place the reinvestment, the cash stays in your core position, and an alert goes out shortly after 8 a.m. on auction day.
- No replacement found. If no reinvestment settling within 3 calendar days of the maturity is found, the service is cancelled and the proceeds stay in your core account.
Rolling keeps the term, which shapes how a Treasury bill ladder is spaced when it runs on automatic reinvestment. Auto Roll also covers CDs, under different rules; Fidelity brokered CDs sets those out.
Selling a bill before it matures
There is no penalty to pay; the way out is a sale at the market price.
- At the bid shown. Fidelity's FAQ says you must sell a Treasury at the active bid price on Fidelity.com, as a Fill or Kill order at that price or a Day order with your own limit. "You cannot request a bid for any Treasury security"; if no price is shown for your bill, the FAQ says to call a fixed-income specialist.
- The price. Fidelity's online mark-down on Treasuries is $0, but its Auto Roll page warns that Treasuries sold before maturity "are subject to a trading mark-down, and may result in a substantial gain or loss due to interest rate changes and other factors." For a short bill the swing is small but not zero, as HYSA vs CD vs T-bills notes.
- The cash. Fidelity's 2024 notice says that when you sell a bond, the cash can be withdrawn from your core account the next business day after the trade.
- The paperwork. Fidelity's tax FAQ says Treasury bills sold before maturity are exempt from reporting on the standard 1099-B, but "Investors may still have a tax obligation on the sales of these securities." How an early sale is taxed is set out in are Treasury bills taxable.
Tax, as Fidelity states it
Fidelity's T-bill article: "Interest earned on a T-bill is subject to federal taxes but not state or local income taxes." The statute behind the exemption, the year the discount is reported, the Form 1099-INT box and what an IRA changes are on how Treasury bill interest is taxed. What the exemption is worth depends on your state and bracket.
Treasury bills in a Fidelity IRA
Fidelity's IRA investment-options page lists individual bonds among its fixed-income choices, and its fee schedule says it applies to Fidelity retirement accounts, traditional, Roth, rollover, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs among them. Neither names Treasury bills in so many words. Two points are explicit: the auction ticket asks which account the bill goes into, and "Retirement accounts are not eligible for margin." Whether an IRA is offered on the ticket is worth checking first. Inside an IRA, the account's tax rules replace the federal-yes, state-no treatment; what is an IRA CD shows the same split between account and holding for a certificate.
Fidelity or TreasuryDirect: the structural differences
Fidelity's T-bill article names the other route: new issues bought "directly from the US government by opening an account at TreasuryDirect", with a $100 minimum in $100 steps. TreasuryDirect sells only at auction, charges nothing and lists no IRA among its registrations, and a bill bought there must be transferred to a bank, broker or dealer before it can be sold, after a 45-day hold that a 4-week bill never clears. Fidelity adds the secondary market, sells from the account the bill is already in, and works in $1,000 bonds. Which differences matter depends on what the money is for: how to buy Treasury bills lays the routes side by side, and where to keep an emergency fund covers money that might be needed on any given day.
What to confirm before ordering
- The term and maturity date, against the date you need the money.
- Auction or secondary. At auction: a non-competitive bid in one-bond steps, with Auto Roll available. On the secondary market: the offer's own price and minimum, and no Auto Roll.
- The order deadline and settlement date for the auction you want, and whether the full price must be in your core position when you order.
- Online or by phone: $0 online, $19.95 per auction order or purchase with a representative, no bond orders through FAST.
- Auto Roll, yes or no, with Fidelity Alerts if yes.
- The account, and whether an IRA is offered on the ticket.
- Where to read the result: the Treasury posts every auction's results on TreasuryDirect once it closes.
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