--- title: "Build a screener" description: "Build a screener from an untitled draft: set the universe, add filter conditions in the Add filter flyout, check the You're saying line, and save it." canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/screeners/build-a-screener" last_updated: "2026-10-06" md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/screeners/build-a-screener.md" --- # Build a screener You build a [screener](/glossary/screener) in its workspace: choose the universe it draws from, add filter conditions, then name it and save it to your library. A screener's workspace band: the Matches and Backtest views, then the filter strip — the asset type, two filter chips and Add filter. ## Steps 1. **Open Screeners.** You land in "Untitled screener", a new unsaved draft, not a list; a screener needs no [strategy](/glossary/strategy) first. Your saved screeners live in the **Library** pane in the sidebar, under **Mine** and **Public**. 2. **Choose what it screens.** On the left of the filter strip pick **Stocks**, **ETPs** or **Crypto**. A new screener starts on **Stocks**; switching later asks "Switch asset type?", because each [asset type](/glossary/asset-type) has its own [universe filters](/glossary/universe-facets). Then narrow the [universe](/glossary/universe) with the strip's chips — **Asset type**, **Country**, **Exchange**, **Asset subtype**, **Index**, **Sector**, **Currency**. A chip you have not touched reads **All**, and **Reset** puts one back. 3. **Add a filter.** Select **Add filter** and pick one from its three columns — **Category**, **Subcategory**, **Filter** — or type in **Search filters…** instead. The categories are **Universe** and, in this order, **Fundamental**, **Technical**, **Options**, **Short Selling**, **Ownership**, **Market & Sector** and **Calendar** — each of these appears only once it holds at least one filter, so the list can be shorter. 4. **Set its condition.** The filter arrives as a chip at its default condition, with its editor open. Choose the relation — **vs Value**, **vs Aggregate**, **vs Lagged Self**, **Highest / Lowest** or **Between** — set the value, and read the **You're saying** line: it restates the condition as a sentence as you type, so you can check the rule says what you meant. Until you have picked values it reads "Choose values to see what this filter says." 5. **Apply it, then add the next.** Select **Apply**: the chip joins the strip and the **Matches** count updates. Repeat from step 3 for each further condition. Conditions combine with AND — an [instrument](/glossary/instrument) has to satisfy every one of them. 6. **Save and name it.** Select **Save**, type a name at "Name your screener" and confirm with **Save**. To use it inside a strategy, attach it there — [Attaching a screener to a strategy](/docs/strategies/attach-a-screener-to-a-strategy) covers that flow, including building one directly on the strategy. **Done.** The screener's name replaces "Untitled screener" in the header, with **Last edited** and how long ago beside it, and **Discard** disappears; the screener is in the **Library** under **Mine**, and **Matches** counts the instruments that pass every condition — [Read your matches](/docs/screeners/read-your-matches) covers that list. ## How do I keep only the top few instruments rather than everything that passes? Use the **Highest / Lowest** relation on the filter you want to rank by, and set its **Rank**. That is the only ranking mechanism a screener has — there is no separate ordering or sort-weight step. "Market Cap → Highest → Rank 50" keeps the fifty largest instruments still standing when the ranking runs — which is not the same as the fifty largest overall, because a screener applies its conditions in the order they sit in the strip. [Sequential filtering and Top-N ranking](/glossary/sequential-filtering-and-top-n-ranking) covers what that order does. ## Where do the extra Period, Lag, and Multiplier fields come from? They are the filter editor's optional **Advanced** panel, and only filters that support them show them. They shift or scale the reading before the comparison happens rather than changing the comparison itself; **Reset to defaults** puts them back. What each one does is covered in [lag, period, and multiplier](/glossary/lag-period-and-multiplier). ## Why can't I save my screener? On a draft you just started, **Save** stays unavailable with "Add a filter or change the universe to enable Save.": an untouched draft has nothing to persist, so add a filter or narrow the universe. On a screener from the **Public** tab you see "Public screener — use Copy to Mine to create your own version.": a Public screener is Fincanva's, so it is read-only — select **Copy to Mine** to get your own editable copy, then build on that. ## Why does the results area say "No instruments match your filters"? Nothing has gone wrong — the conditions together are simply too tight, or two of them contradict each other. What the empty state offers you is covered in [Read your matches](/docs/screeners/read-your-matches#the-list-is-empty-no-instruments-match-your-filters). Fincanva is for education and illustration only. It is not personalised financial advice, and past or simulated results do not predict future ones. [Read the Terms Addendum](https://fincanva.com/terms/addendum#section-3)