Universe facets are the fields a screener uses to narrow its universe before any metric filter runs: Country, Exchange, Asset subtype, Index, Sector, and Currency, all sitting under a single Asset type. Each facet is a multi-select chip on the filter strip, and a facet with nothing selected reads All, which restricts nothing. Facets decide which instruments a screener may consider; they never test a metric, so they run ahead of every metric filter and set the pool the match count is drawn from.
Also seen as: universe filters
What each universe facet narrows
Asset type is chosen first, and it decides which facets exist below it — the facets for stocks are not the facets for exchange-traded products.
| Facet | Narrows the universe to | Available on |
|---|---|---|
| Asset type | Stocks, ETPs, or Crypto — exactly one at a time | always |
| Country | USA Domestic, Canadian, ADR, EU (stocks); USA, EU (ETPs) | Stocks, ETPs |
| Exchange | NYSE, NASDAQ, NYSE MKT, OTC, EU listed — plus NYSE ARCA and BATS for ETPs | Stocks, ETPs |
| Asset subtype | Common, Common (secondary), Preferred (stocks); ETF, ETN, ETC, CEF, ETD, ETMF, Unit (ETPs) | Stocks, ETPs |
| Index | NASDAQ 100, Dow 30, S&P 100, S&P 400, S&P 500, S&P 600, Russell 2000, STOXX 600 | Stocks |
| Sector | the eleven sectors, from Basic Materials to Utilities | Stocks |
| Currency | USD, EUR, GBP | ETPs |
Crypto exposes no facets at all: choosing it selects the whole crypto set with nothing further to narrow. The asset-subtype abbreviations have their own page, because ETF, ETN, ETC, CEF, ETD, and ETMF describe genuinely different instrument structures.
What "All" on a facet means
All on a facet means "no restriction on this field" — every value passes, and the facet takes nothing out of the universe. Selecting every option in a facet has the same effect as All, because a facet only narrows anything when some, but not all, of its options are chosen. That is also why a facet you have opened up completely stops behaving like a restriction: its chip may still read a count, but nothing is being excluded.
How Reset differs from Remove on a facet chip
Reset (the ↺ button inside the facet's list) returns that one facet to its default selection, which may itself be a restriction. Remove (the ✕ on the chip) clears the facet to All and drops the chip from the strip. The two therefore end in different places: on Country, Reset returns you to USA Domestic + Canadian + ADR, while Remove opens the screener to every country group. The ↺ button appears only while a facet is away from its default, so its presence is itself the signal that you have changed that field.
Defaults in Fincanva
- Asset type starts on Stocks.
- For stocks, Country starts at USA Domestic, Canadian, ADR (EU off) and Asset subtype starts at Common; Exchange, Index, and Sector all start at All.
- For ETPs, Country starts at USA; Currency, Exchange, and Asset subtype all start at All.
- Switching asset type hides the other type's facets rather than deleting them — the app warns "Switching to
{target}hides these universe filters:{filters}. You can restore them by switching back." — and switching back restores exactly what you had. - Facets combine with AND, and with each other and the metric filters, so adding a facet can only lower the match count or leave it unchanged.
Worked example
You want large US technology names listed on one exchange, expressed in three chips. Start from the stock defaults, then set Country: USA Domestic — one selection instead of the default three, so ADR and Canadian listings drop out. Add Exchange: NYSE, which moves that facet from All to a single venue and removes every NASDAQ, OTC, and EU-listed instrument. Add Sector: Technology, again from All to one value. The universe is now "US-domestic technology stocks listed on NYSE", and only then do metric filters such as Market cap > $10B start testing what is left. Press ✕ on the Exchange chip and it returns to All — every venue is back; press ↺ inside the Country facet instead and it returns to USA Domestic + Canadian + ADR, not to All.
Where this term is used
Generated · 0 pagesThe pages that reference this term — so a term page is somewhere you pass through, not somewhere you land and stop.
Fincanva provides no financial advice. Backtests show what would have happened — not what will.
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