This study examines the financial factors affecting the cash holdings of firms listed on Borsa Istanbul. The financial factors influencing cash holdings include leverage, firm size, cash flow, and dividend policy. The study period covers 2015–2022, a period characterized by increasing systematic risks at both the local and global levels. Such systematic risks may alter the effects of these factors on cash holdings relative to established findings in the literature. Accordingly, the factors affecting firms’ cash holdings during the specified period are analyzed using the System GMM estimator. The empirical findings indicate that dividend payments, the liquidity of non-cash current assets, cash flow ratio, financial leverage, firm size, and growth opportunities are significant determinants of cash holdings. The direction of these effects is generally consistent with the existing literature. Overall, the findings suggest that the systematic risks experienced during the study period did not lead to a substantial deviation in the determinants of firms’ cash holding behavior. However, the effect of financial leverage differs from that reported in prior studies. The results indicate that financial leverage has a positive effect on firms’ cash holdings. This finding suggests that firms finance their short-term investments, namely working capital, through debt. Alternatively, firms may have adopted a precautionary motive for holding cash in response to increased borrowing during this period.