Risk templates are the ready-made risk conditions listed under Template in the condition builder: each one arrives with its instrument, indicator, operator, and thresholds already filled in, so picking one gives you a complete working condition in a single click. They are starting points, not recommendations — Fincanva describes what each template watches and leaves the choice, and any tuning, to you.
Also seen as: presets, ready-made conditions.
What do the built-in risk templates watch?
Eleven templates ship today, grouped in the builder under Volatility, Yield curve, Inflation, and S&P 500. Each description below is the one the app shows.
| Group | Template | What it watches |
|---|---|---|
| Volatility | VIX | "CBOE volatility index level. Risk-Off when volatility exceeds the threshold." |
| Volatility | VIX ratio | "Ratio of short-term (VIX) to medium-term (VXV) implied volatility. Risk-Off when the short term exceeds the medium term." |
| Inflation | TIPS | "Average momentum of Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. Risk-Off when momentum turns sharply negative." |
| Yield curve | Short Term (5Y − 3M) | "Short-end yield curve spread. Risk-Off when inverted." |
| Yield curve | Medium Term (10Y − 5Y) | "Mid-curve yield spread. Risk-Off when inverted." |
| Yield curve | Medium Term (10Y − 5Y, inflation) | "Inflation-indexed mid-curve spread. Risk-Off when inverted." |
| Yield curve | Long Term (30Y − 3M) | "Long-end vs short-end spread. Risk-Off when inverted." |
| Yield curve | Long Term (30Y − 10Y) | "Long-end spread. Risk-Off when inverted." |
| Yield curve | Long Term (30Y − 10Y, inflation) | "Inflation-indexed long-end spread. Risk-Off when inverted." |
| S&P 500 | S&P 500 200-day moving average | "Risk-Off when the S&P 500 crosses below its 200-day simple moving average." |
| S&P 500 | S&P 500 12-month momentum | "12-month percent change of the S&P 500. Risk-Off when 12-month momentum turns negative." |
An inverted yield curve means the shorter-dated yield in the pair sits above the longer-dated one, so the spread between them turns negative — which is what those templates compare against. The two inflation-indexed spreads read the same pairs on inflation-linked yields instead of nominal ones.
What can you change once you pick a template?
You can tune the fields the template exposes, and reach the rest through Show more. A selected template shows the inputs it expects you to adjust — for most of them the two thresholds and their operators — while the rest of the condition stays as the template set it. Show more / Hide details reveals the remaining fields, and changing one of those appends " (modified)" after the template's name so you can see the condition no longer matches its template. Reset to template puts the original values back. If you would rather start from nothing, the list also offers Custom ("Build your own rule from scratch.") with two starting shapes, "Single series" and "Double series" — see Condition types.
Defaults in Fincanva
- Every template ships with Confirmation delay (weeks) at 0 and Auto-rebalance off — maximum responsiveness, and therefore maximum exposure to whipsaw; add patience or off-schedule rebalancing yourself if you want them.
- Most templates are Single series conditions with two thresholds. The S&P 500 200-day moving average template is a Double series condition instead, comparing the index against its own moving average, so it has no numeric thresholds.
- Several templates read their series untransformed — see Raw price.
- Which fields a template exposes for tuning varies: most let you edit the two thresholds and their operators, while the S&P 500 200-day moving average template exposes none, so any change to it counts as a modification.
- Where a template's construction is not published — the Average momentum indicator behind the TIPS template, for instance — Fincanva documents what the template observes, not how the value is built.
Does Fincanva recommend a risk template?
No. Fincanva describes what each template watches and what its fields mean; it does not say which template to use, whether to use one at all, when a strategy should turn defensive, or what threshold to set. A template being built in is not a signal that it works — it is a pre-filled form. See Is this financial advice?.
Worked example
You pick the S&P 500 200-day moving average template. The builder fills in a Double series condition: Series 1 is the S&P 500 read as a level, and the Comparison series is the same index transformed by a simple moving average over 200 days. The comparison between them is the whole condition, which is why no Thresholds section appears — there is no number to type.
You then open Show more, set Confirmation delay (weeks) to 4 so a brief dip below the average is not acted on, and leave Auto-rebalance off so a flip rides the strategy's normal rebalance schedule. Because the confirmation delay is not one of the fields this template exposes for tuning, the template's name now reads with " (modified)" after it — a label, not a warning. Reset to template would undo both edits.
Learn more: Set up a risk condition
Where this term is used
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Fincanva provides no financial advice. Backtests show what would have happened — not what will.
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