The Treasury Market's Legendary Liquidity Has Been Drying Up

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
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Trading Treasuries keeps getting tougher and tougher.

For decades, the $12.5 trillion market for U.S. government debt was renowned for its “depth,” Wall Street’s way of talking about a market’s ability to handle large trades without big moves in prices. But lately, that resiliency has practically vanished -- and that’s a big worry.