Short answer: VİOP (often written VIOP, and unrelated to VoIP telephony) is Borsa Istanbul's derivatives market for futures and options, in Turkish Vadeli İşlem ve Opsiyon Piyasası. Investors, including non-residents, trade through a VİOP member firm, and Takasbank stands as central counterparty with margin and daily settlement. The BIST 30 index future, often searched as VIOP 30, is worth the index times TRY 10 and settles in cash under the exchange's VİOP Procedure (revision 70, 1 July 2026).
The exchange's own page gives VİOP's history and contract types but little on how a foreign trader gets in or how margin behaves. This guide fills that gap from Borsa Istanbul's VİOP Procedure (revision 70, 1 July 2026), Takasbank's clearing procedure (amendments through 29 August 2026) and tax sources, all read on 6 November 2026.
It describes the market only. It recommends no contract, broker, hedge or strategy, and all worked numbers are hypothetical.
What is VIOP? Borsa Istanbul's derivatives market
VİOP is Borsa Istanbul's single platform for exchange-traded futures and options, and these products are leveraged: a small margin controls a much larger contract value, so losses can exceed the money deposited.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 21 December 2012 | VİOP starts operating at the exchange |
| 5 August 2013 | Merges with the Izmir-based Futures and Options Exchange |
| 3 March 2014 | Takasbank becomes central counterparty |
| 6 March 2017 | Moves to the BISTECH trading platform |
| 17 January 2020 | Evening session starts |
| 15 February 2023 | Normal session end set at 18:10 for all contracts |
Takasbank's VİOP statistics page, dated 5 November 2026 (read 6 November 2026), shows 19,624 accounts with open positions, of which 143 are foreign (76 individual, 67 institutional), and open interest of 25.73 million futures contracts worth about TRY 433.0 billion. Session times are in Borsa Istanbul trading hours and holidays.
Borsa Istanbul derivatives market: contract families
VİOP lists futures and options on shares, indices and currencies, and futures on metals, interest rates, government bonds, electricity and a foreign index.
| Family | Contracts |
|---|---|
| Single stock | Stock futures (100 shares each as standard) and stock options |
| Equity index | BIST 30 futures and options; futures on BIST Liquid Banks, BIST Non-Bank Liquid 10 and BIST Sustainability 25 |
| Currency | USD/TRY, EUR/TRY, RUB/TRY, CNH/TRY, EUR/USD and GBP/USD futures; USD/TRY options; physically delivered USD/TRY futures and options |
| Precious metals and metal | Gold in lira; gold, silver, platinum and palladium in dollars; copper in dollars per tonne |
| Rates and bonds | 1-month TLREF futures; physically delivered government bond futures |
| Other | Base-load electricity futures; SASX 10 index futures |
Index contracts settle in cash. Stock contracts deliver shares, on T+2 under the procedure. Borsa Istanbul's letter 42203 (opens in a new tab) of 19 December 2025 says its T+1 settlement project also covers derivatives based on Equity Market instruments, and letter 38907 (opens in a new tab) of 29 August 2025 requires all T+1 preparation to be finished by 31 December 2026. Neither gives a go-live date, and none had been announced by 6 November 2026. Naming a contract here is not a suggestion to trade it.
VIOP 30 futures: the BIST 30 contract explained
VIOP 30 is shorthand for the BIST 30 index future, a cash-settled contract worth the index times TRY 10.
| Term | Rule |
|---|---|
| Underlying | BIST 30 Price Index |
| Contract size | 10 units; the procedure's example is 10,240.00 x TRY 10 = TRY 102,400 |
| Tick | 1.00 index point, so TRY 10 per contract (calculated) |
| Expiry months | February, April, June, August, October, December: the nearest three, plus December |
| Last trading day | Last business day of the month, or the day before if that is a half day |
| Daily settlement price | Volume-weighted average of the last 10 minutes, with fallbacks if few trades occur |
| Final settlement | 80% time-weighted index average over the last 30 minutes of continuous trading, 20% closing index value |
| Daily price limit | ±10% in the normal session under notice 2020/20 of 12 March 2020 (±15% in the procedure text); ±3% in the evening session |
| Cash flow | Losses collected and profits credited at the end of the trade day |
Historical data has a trap. Two zeros were removed from Borsa Istanbul's equity indices, and the DataStore portal warns that index values before 27 July 2020 must be divided by 100 and that index contracts changed at the same time. Rescale old series before comparing them.
VIOP margin and daily settlement at Takasbank
Takasbank calculates required margin per account with its SPAN-based BISTECH Margin Method and settles profit and loss daily, and it applies no maintenance level at the end of the day.
- End of day. Article 39 of Takasbank's procedure says no maintenance level is used at day end, so the call is for the larger of any shortfall in valued collateral and any shortfall in minimum cash. Articles 22 and 49 set 15:00 the next business day as the deadline (11:00 for accounts with physically delivered currency obligations), or 11:00 on a half day, after which default rules apply; a negative cash balance must be closed by 11:00.
- During the day. A maintenance level that Takasbank announces by general letter applies in the day and evening sessions. If an account's risk exceeds it, resting orders are canceled and position-increasing orders are blocked (Article 39).
- Intraday calls. Takasbank can make one, to be met within two hours, but not in the evening session (Article 40).
- Settlement run. The settlement price is announced at 19:00, and accounts are updated after the evening cycle starts at 19:30 (Article 22). Evening trades join the next business day's cycle (Article 41).
- Who answers. Takasbank deals only with the member. If a call on a client account is not met, it can close positions without notifying the client (Article 21). The procedure governs the member's account with Takasbank, so ask the member how its own client agreement handles calls.
Many explainers show a maintenance level that absorbs small end-of-day losses. The hypothetical below shows why that picture misleads here.
Hypothetical: one long BIST 30 contract at 12,000, a value of TRY 120,000, with an invented required margin of TRY 14,400 held constant, each call paid before the next settlement and no minimum cash rule. Takasbank's real parameters change and are not stated here.
| Day | Settlement price | Profit or loss (TRY) | Margin after settlement (TRY) | Call (TRY) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12,150 | +1,500 | 15,900 | 0 |
| 2 | 11,950 | -2,000 | 13,900 | 500 |
| 3 | 11,680 | -2,700 | 11,700 | 2,700 |
After day 3 the deposits total TRY 17,600 against margin of TRY 14,400, a loss of TRY 3,200, which is 320 points x TRY 10. The day 2 call appears even though the balance is only slightly below the requirement.
VIOP position limits
Position limits apply per investor registry across all accounts and, for stock contracts, across the whole market, and software should treat them as hard order rejects.
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| BIST 30, per registry, from 2 June 2026 | 300,000 underlying units, or 30,000 contracts at 10 units each (calculated) |
| USD/TRY, per registry, from 2 June 2026 | 200,000,000 units, or 200,000 contracts at USD 1,000 each (calculated) |
| Stock futures and options, per registry | 3% of the free-float shares reported by the Central Registry Agency (MKK); letter 2149 also lists fixed figures for stock underlyings |
| Upper limit on any contract, per registry | 10% of same-direction open interest in that underlying |
| Stock contracts, market-wide | 25% of free-float shares; the General Manager can raise it to 35% to protect expiry processes |
Article 24 counts same-direction positions together: long futures, long calls and short puts on one side, short futures, short calls and long puts on the other. A breach means exceeding both the fixed limit and the upper limit. Registry limits are checked in real time and market limits once a day, at the start of the day; on a breach, position-increasing orders are blocked and resting orders canceled, and Takasbank can close excess positions (Article 27). A member can ask for up to 10 times the fixed limit, with exchange approval above twice. For registries on its risky-client list, Takasbank can cut the fixed limit to a quarter and the upper limit to 2.5% of same-direction open interest, and it can set lower limits for other registries with concentrated positions (Article 24).
Fixed limits are reviewed every three months and can change sooner (Article 24). Letter 2149 was still the newest limit letter in Takasbank's general letter list (opens in a new tab) on 6 November 2026, when the list ran to letter 2176 of 27 October 2026, so load the figures from the latest letter rather than hard-coding them.
Annex 6 of the VİOP Procedure adds that the exchange's PTRM pre-trade risk system checks these limits and may then accept only position-reducing orders, while members cannot monitor the limits there, so keep your own counter. Limits like these belong in the layer described in trading bot risk management.
How non-residents reach VIOP, and how gains are taxed
Non-residents trade as clients of a VİOP member firm, because exchange membership needs a local presence and Turkish law reserves order handling for authorized firms.
The exchange's undated How to Trade in VIOP (opens in a new tab) guide, whose figures date from 2017, says institutional and individual investors trade as a member's clients under a brokerage agreement, that membership requires local presence and that there is no remote membership. Its How to Trade VİOP web page lists the members that shared contact details, with the foreign languages each serves, and Article 39 of Law No. 6362 limits investment services to authorized firms. The Capital Markets Board's page for foreign investors (opens in a new tab) says they should use a Turkish intermediary and can hedge currency risk on this market, under its old name.
No exchange page read on 6 November 2026 sets out a foreign-investor process, a document list or a minimum deposit, so ask the member. Account basics are in how to buy Turkish stocks. Your own country may restrict or tax derivatives differently, and rules vary by investor type.
| Underlying | Rate |
|---|---|
| Shares or share indices | 0% |
| Everything else, such as currencies and metals | 10% |
GİB's February 2026 guide says provisional Article 67 of the Income Tax Law runs until 31 December 2030. Borsa Istanbul's taxation page gives the same split for foreign investors and notes that exceptions may apply. Its undated VİOP FAQ (opens in a new tab) shows 0% on all contracts for resident and non-resident capital companies and investment funds and says other companies pay 10%, so companies and funds should confirm their own treatment with a tax adviser.
VIOP data and connections for developers
Market data comes under a license from the exchange, directly or through data vendors, and order flow goes through a member's systems, so a foreign developer builds against a member's rules rather than directly against the exchange.
| Need | Source |
|---|---|
| Real-time prices and depth | Level 1, Level 1+, Level 2 (best 10 levels) and Level 2+ (best 25 levels for futures and options) products, licensed by the exchange |
| Historical files | DataStore categories: VIOP ITCH Data, Intraday Order Book Data, Intraday Transaction Book Data, Daily Closing Prices and Trade Volumes. ITCH files are sold unparsed; their DataStore description allows testing your own algorithms but bars passing them on, copying or commercial use |
| Daily reports | Bulletin, final settlement prices, end-of-day holdings and domestic/foreign trade breakdown on the exchange's derivatives data pages |
Licensing runs through the exchange's data distribution agreement, explained in Borsa Istanbul API and market data. How to Trade in VIOP lists Trading Workstation, FIX, OUCH and ITCH as member connections; session and order mechanics are in broker API integration. For integration work in general, see Fincode's algorithmic trading page; naming VİOP here does not mean Fincode integrates it or has built on it.
Frequently asked questions
What does VIOP stand for?
Vadeli İşlem ve Opsiyon Piyasası, the Futures and Options Market of Borsa Istanbul. It has nothing to do with VoIP internet telephony.
Can foreigners trade on VIOP?
Yes, as clients of a VİOP member firm. Takasbank's statistics dated 5 November 2026 show 143 foreign accounts with open positions. The exchange publishes no separate foreign-investor process, so ask the member what it requires.
How big is a VIOP 30 contract?
The index times TRY 10. At a hypothetical index level of 12,000, one contract is worth TRY 120,000, and one tick of 1.00 point is worth TRY 10.
How much margin does a BIST 30 future need?
Takasbank calculates it per account with parameters that change, so this guide states no figure. Ask the member firm for the current requirement and its own terms.
How is VIOP taxed in Turkey?
For individuals, GİB's table, read 6 November 2026, shows 0% withholding on contracts based on shares or share indices and 10% on others, for residents and non-residents. Home-country tax may still apply.
Sources
- Borsa Istanbul: VİOP Procedure, revision 70, 1 July 2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- Borsa Istanbul: Derivatives Market (VİOP), history and contract types (opens in a new tab)
- Takasbank: VİOP central counterparty and clearing procedure, amendments through 29 August 2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- Takasbank general letter 2149, 25 May 2026: VİOP registry position limits from 2 June 2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- Borsa Istanbul: VİOP frequently asked questions, margin method and tax table (opens in a new tab)
- Takasbank: VİOP statistics, dated 5 November 2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- Takasbank: VİOP general definition, risk layers and margin calls (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- Borsa Istanbul: How to trade in VİOP, member directory (opens in a new tab)
- Borsa Istanbul: Investment guide, taxation for foreign investors (opens in a new tab)
- GİB: Withholding rates under provisional Article 67 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- GİB: Guide to provisional Article 67 for individuals, February 2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- Borsa Istanbul: Market data products (opens in a new tab)
- Borsa Istanbul: Derivatives market data, bulletins and reports (opens in a new tab)
- Borsa Istanbul DataStore: historical data portal (opens in a new tab)
- Capital Markets Law No. 6362, Article 39 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
This guide is general information, not investment, legal or tax advice. Amounts, rates and rules in Turkey change often: check the date given for each figure and the official source before you rely on it, and ask a licensed adviser about your own situation. Sources, checks and corrections: see the editorial policy.