ETF market making.
Algorithmic secondary market-making for listed exchange-traded funds in East Africa: continuous buy and sell quotes, so ETF prices stay close to the value of what the fund holds.
ETFs are new to Tanzania: the DSE listed its first in October 2025, and more have followed. A steady buyer and seller helps a new fund trade smoothly from day one.
Our aim is to keep each ETF’s market price close to its net asset value (NAV), so investors buy and sell at a fair price for what the fund holds, not at a premium or a discount. That matters to investors and to the issuers bringing funds to market.
Engagement with East African ETF issuers and venue operators is underway. Our approach follows each venue’s framework for the product class. The deeper venue detail lives on the Markets pages.
ETF liquidity makes index investing practical.
The promise of an ETF is simple: one trade buys the whole market. For most investors in frontier markets, that is the difference between diversifying and not investing at all. Building a portfolio counter by counter takes capital, time, and execution skill that most savers do not have.
But the promise only holds if the ETF itself trades well. An index fund that trades at an unpredictable premium or discount, or that cannot be exited when needed, passes the illiquidity of the underlying market straight through to the investor. The wrapper adds nothing.
A market maker quoting continuously against iNAV closes that gap. The investor gets the diversification of the index and the execution quality of a liquid instrument, in one product. That is how index investing becomes a practical option for pension funds, institutions, and ordinary savers across East Africa, not just a structure on paper.
What is a market maker? →
One trade, the whole market: what a working ETF makes possible.
