What Is TEFAS?

TEFAS is short for the Turkey Electronic Fund Trading Platform (Türkiye Elektronik Fon Alım Satım Platformu). It is the electronic platform where most investment funds established in Turkey are bought and sold through a single central system, and it is operated by Takasbank. Using one fund account at a single institution, an investor can reach the funds of other institutions through this platform.

What TEFAS does

Before TEFAS, a fund could usually be bought only through the channels of the company that launched it. The platform opened up distribution: a fund created by one portfolio management company became sellable through the many banks and brokerages that are members of TEFAS.

Takasbank operates the platform; it records buy and sell orders and runs their settlement (the exchange of cash and units) and value-date processes. As a result, an investor does not have to open an account at a separate institution for each fund; a single fund account at their own bank can reach funds from different institutions. In this sense TEFAS works like a shared marketplace where funds come together.

What "trades on TEFAS" means

A fund trading on TEFAS means it can be reached from the fund account of any institution that is a member of the platform. It no longer matters which company launched the fund; the investor submits the order through their own institution.

By contrast, not every fund is on TEFAS. Some funds are distributed only through their founder's own channels and are not listed on the platform. Some hedge funds, even when they trade on TEFAS, can be bought and sold only by those who meet the qualified investor requirement; others change hands outside the platform. So "not on TEFAS" does not mean the fund does not exist — only that it cannot be reached through this shared platform.

Does TEFAS set prices or returns

It does not. TEFAS is a trading infrastructure; unlike an exchange, it does not form a price from supply and demand. The value of a fund unit is the net asset value per unit coming from the fund's own portfolio: the fund's total asset value is divided by the number of units in circulation and recalculated every day.

Therefore a fund's return arises not from TEFAS but from the assets inside the fund. As the value of the shares, bonds or gold in the portfolio changes, the unit value changes too. The platform only records this price and executes orders at that calculated price; it is the portfolio, not the platform, that produces the return. This distinction matters: whichever institution's screen a fund is bought from, its unit value that day is the same.

How a fund is bought on TEFAS

The mechanism works like this. First, an investment (fund) account must be opened at a bank or brokerage that is a member of the platform. Once that account is open, the funds trading on TEFAS can be searched through the institution's app; the desired fund is selected, an amount is entered, and a buy order is submitted. A sell order is placed from the same account.

The price at which an order executes depends on the trading hours and the pricing method. Most funds use forward pricing: when the order is placed, the price is not yet known, and the order is filled at the first unit value calculated after it. The order cut-off and how many days later the units reach the account (the value date) vary from fund to fund; for these details see the fund trading hours page.

Fon.org.tr shows these funds' historical data, expense ratios and comparisons; it does not steer you toward which institution to open an account with or which fund to buy. A fund's past return is no guarantee of its future return. You can find how different fund types such as money market, equity and gold funds work under their own dictionary entries.