Debt of the UK government, issued by HM Treasury. The term ‘gilt’ is a reference to their security, i.e. the gov. always made the payments. Income will be distributed as cash.
Maybe I’m crazy for trying, but my buy orders are being rejected?
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My guess is the market is very thin and Freetrade can’t find anyone willing to sell, or willing to sell at a reasonable price.
Quite a lot of off book activity and the transactions that are happening are in large blocks.
What does it take for this to increase in value? My understanding was that bonds are a good way to add a bit protection to your portfolio.
When things are going well, they will reduce in value but when things are going bad and the government has to borrow more the value increases.
Are we just living in a point in time where stock prices and bonds aren’t doing great?
I believe the challenge is that as yields improve investors sell out of lower yield bonds and the falling demand makes the price drop. Effectively the high interest rate environment isn’t helping. That’s my leyman understanding 
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Bonds are USUALLY a good way to add protection. But if yields go up then bonds go down. Yields have been going up…
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Bonds have been a terrible place to park money especially since 2020 due to the excessive printing of money from many governments around the globe.
Cash begins to become toilet paper when as you print $6 Trillion or £800 Billion in 1-2 years.
For reference I only rly play close attention to my own life’s finances and John Thomas who trades the options market very well, so I do get a great understanding of what sector is a buy and which sector to avoid ‘like the plague’ as he calls it - and bonds have been a ‘shorting’ opportunity since 2020 (that means to buy options which appreciate in value should the bond market decline).
At some point soon there will be good opportunities for experienced bond investors to grab some deals BUT if you have a 10+ year time horizon then ignore bonds (apart from your emergency fund) and stick with equities with a focus on long term trends and quality.
I think John Thomas has made around 64% in 2023 largely down to still shorting the bond market. Of which he has stopped but still believes there is more room to fall.
Look at a gold chart from 2018 it’s almost increased in value 100% so physical gold has been a great hedge. Despite how many steer investors away from it.
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