A strategy is a saved set of instruments together with the rules for how capital is weighted across them and when positions change — the unit you backtest, keep in your library, and follow over time. A strategy holds instruments directly, and it is what every backtest runs on. It is also the building block of a Combined, which holds strategies instead of instruments.
Earlier versions of Fincanva called this object a model or a component. Both names are retired — the app says strategy everywhere now.
What does a strategy contain?
A strategy contains its instruments plus the rule groups that decide how those instruments are held. Asset selection sets which instruments it trades — picked by hand or chosen for it by an attached screener. Allocation sets how capital is split across them. Rebalance every sets how often the weights are reset (see rebalance). Risk and Position exits are optional and add conditions that change the allocation or close a position. What is a strategy in Fincanva? covers each part in full.
How is a strategy different from a Combined?
A strategy holds instruments; a Combined holds strategies and splits capital across them. The pieces inside a Combined are themselves strategies — deliberately the same object you build on its own — so "strategy" covers both a standalone strategy and a strategy in a Combined. Where the whole and its pieces appear together the whole is always called the Combined, never a generic "strategy", and destructive actions name their level: "Remove this strategy from the Combined" versus "Delete Combined".
Defaults in Fincanva
- A strategy needs at least one instrument before it can run, and a strategy that selects instruments through a screener needs at least one screener attached. The editor's own setup checks are listed under strategy alerts.
- Strategies are listed under Strategies, split into Single and Combined — a Combined is a strategy too, just one whose members are strategies.
- Four strategy types shape what you fill in when you create one; they change which steps you see, not what the backtest computes. See Choosing a strategy type.
- A strategy can be followed live with Mark Live, which lists it as a portfolio on the Portfolios page. Nothing is traded and no order is placed.
- Editing a saved strategy leaves its last result in place until you run it again; the run status chip reads "Out of date" until then.
Worked example
You start from an idea: hold the strongest recent performers among S&P 500 stocks and refresh the list every month. As a strategy that becomes one saved object — a universe of S&P 500 stocks, an attached screener that ranks them on recent price change, Ranking-Based allocation so the highest-ranked receive the most capital, and Rebalance every set to 1 month. You run it, read the equity curve and metrics, then change the rebalance to 3 months and run again. Both runs describe the same strategy — one object, two settings — which is exactly why it is worth saving as one.
Where this term is used
Generated · 25 pagesThe pages that reference this term — so a term page is somewhere you pass through, not somewhere you land and stop.
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Fincanva provides no financial advice. Backtests show what would have happened — not what will.
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