Risk-Off canonicalization

Also seen as: identical-profile no-op, "nothing changed when my condition fired"

Why does nothing change when the condition fires?

Going Risk-Off means swapping one allocation profile for another. If both profiles carry the same weighting method with the same settings, the swap replaces a profile with its twin and the holdings that come out are the ones that were already there. The regime still flips — the strategy is genuinely in its Risk-Off state — but nothing about what it holds, or about the equity curve, differs from the Risk-On state. See risk conditions for what a flip normally changes.

How does Fincanva flag identical profiles?

The app raises a non-dismissable warning on the strategy: "Risk-Off allocation is the same as Risk-On." It appears once risk conditions are active and both profiles are materially the same, and it cannot be accepted away — the only fix is to make the two profiles actually differ. This is a different situation from a Risk-Off profile that was never picked at all, which shows the harder error "Risk-Off allocation needs to be set" — "Risk conditions are active, but no Risk-Off allocation method has been picked yet. Choose one below so the strategy knows what to do when a risk condition triggers."

Defaults in Fincanva

• For a flip to change anything, the two profiles must differ in something the allocation uses: the weighting method, that method's own parameters, or the profile's calculation window.
• At the strategy level the profiles also differ if their leverage differs; at the Combined level, if their invested portion differs.
• Matching profiles make the condition a no-op — the strategy behaves as if it had no risk condition, even though the condition is configured and active.
• The profile's name ("Risk-On" / "Risk-Off") is a label, not a setting, so two profiles are still counted as identical when only their names differ.

Worked example

A strategy runs Equal Weights, no leverage, in Risk-On. You add a risk condition on a volatility index and set the Risk-Off profile to Equal Weights, no leverage — the same thing. Fincanva shows "Risk-Off allocation is the same as Risk-On." You back-test through a downturn in which the condition triggers for four months. The equity curve is identical to the same strategy with no condition at all: through those four months it still held the same instruments, at the same weights, with the same exposure.

Lower the Risk-Off exposure, or pick a different method for Risk-Off, and the two runs diverge from the first trigger onward — that difference is the entire effect of the risk condition.