Computer algorithms have been taking over trading since the turn of the millennium. And with everything from equities to interest rate swaps having fallen to automation, the multitrillion-dollar corporate bond market — one of the few still dominated by voice trading — is starting to witness the rise of the algos on its own turf.

But while optimism is surging that electronic trading will mean corporate bond traders hang up the phone for good, some experts say it may never happen fully — and that the real prize may not be the trading itself, but the vast troves of data generated in the process.