Fix the Allocation alerts

Q: Why does the card say everything stays in cash?

To review · Everything stays in cash — the allocation in use invests nothing, for one of three reasons: "This allocation invests nothing: every weight is zero, so no capital goes anywhere. Set at least one weight above or below zero." — every weight of a Fixed weights or Ranking-based setup is 0, including the ten zero weights a Ranking-based setup has after Clear; also for a Combined whose own allocation invests nothing across its strategies in use. The totals line reads "Invests nothing". "With 5 instruments a minimum weight of 25% asks for more than 100%: the engine finds no valid weights and stays in cash. Bring the minimum below 20%." — a constrained Markowitz allocation, Long-only or Long/short with Min weight 0% or more (solved as long-only), whose minimum times the instruments it holds exceeds 100% — not with an entry screener, with Force diversification on, or when Max weight is below Min weight. "With 5 instruments only the first 5 ranking levels count and they are all zero, so nothing is invested." — a Ranking-based allocation on fewer than ten picked instruments, no entry screener, weighting only unread levels — see Ranking-based. Fix the weights, or leave it as is if all cash is what you want.

Q: Why does only part of the capital or of the weights count?

To review · Part of the capital stays in cash — "With 5 instruments and a maximum weight of 10%, the engine invests at most 50% and the rest stays in cash: raise the maximum weight or add instruments." A constrained Markowitz allocation, Long-only or Long/short with Min weight 0% or more, whose maximum times the instruments it holds is below 100% — see Limit MPT's weights. The count is your picked instruments, capped by Max positions, or Max positions with none picked; silent when the minimum already asks for more than 100%, with Force diversification on, or when Max weight is below Min weight. To review · The engine uses only part of your weights — "With 5 instruments the engine uses only the first 5 levels and the later weights do not count, negative ones (short sales) included: reduce the levels or add instruments." A Ranking-based allocation on fewer than ten picked instruments, no entry screener, weighting levels past the number of instruments. Silent when every level carries the same weight, and when the alert above already says nothing is invested.

Guide5 min4 steps

The Allocation card raises two blocking alerts — an in-sample period or fixed weights the engine cannot run — and three to review about capital left in cash; each says what clears it.

Steps

Open the alert. Click Allocation in the section strip, or read the Allocation card's footer. The alerts about the Risk-Off allocation are checked only while a risk condition is active.
Find it below by its title — the short form its card and a refused Backtest show. Each fold quotes the exact sentence, with example numbers where yours would stand. Alerts marked for a Combined also appear on its own Allocation card.
Change what it names, or leave it as is. The two blocking alerts clear only when you change the method or its window; the others can be fixed or kept with Leave as is — on a Combined's own allocation for the Combined alone, on a member for that strategy alone.
Save and run — see Save, run and copy a strategy.

Done. Allocation in the strip is grey again, or darker grey if you left an alert as is — see Resolve a strategy's alerts.

Which allocation settings does the engine refuse?

Blocking · The strategy does not run with this in-sample period — "With this method the engine accepts only 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 18 or 24 months, and with 9 the backtest stops with an error: choose one of these values." The method reads annualised volatility over its calculation window, which holds another number of months. Raised on a Combined's own allocation too, while at least one of its strategies is switched on. Silent on exactly one picked instrument when the engine replaces the method there — inverse volatility, min correlation, or a Ranking-based setup whose last weight is above 0.

Blocking · The strategy does not run with fixed weights — "Fixed weights are set instrument by instrument, but the screener picks instruments you have not weighted and the backtest would stop: choose a method that computes the weights itself, for example equal weights." The method is Fixed weights with no picked instrument and an entry screener choosing — on Risk-On, or on Risk-Off while a risk condition is active. The method picker already greys «Fixed weights» out there; this catches a strategy that holds it anyway.

Why does the card say everything stays in cash?

To review · Everything stays in cash — the allocation in use invests nothing, for one of three reasons:

"This allocation invests nothing: every weight is zero, so no capital goes anywhere. Set at least one weight above or below zero." — every weight of a Fixed weights or Ranking-based setup is 0, including the ten zero weights a Ranking-based setup has after Clear; also for a Combined whose own allocation invests nothing across its strategies in use. The totals line reads "Invests nothing".
"With 5 instruments a minimum weight of 25% asks for more than 100%: the engine finds no valid weights and stays in cash. Bring the minimum below 20%." — a constrained Markowitz allocation, Long-only or Long/short with Min weight 0% or more (solved as long-only), whose minimum times the instruments it holds exceeds 100% — not with an entry screener, with Force diversification on, or when Max weight is below Min weight.
"With 5 instruments only the first 5 ranking levels count and they are all zero, so nothing is invested." — a Ranking-based allocation on fewer than ten picked instruments, no entry screener, weighting only unread levels — see Ranking-based.

Fix the weights, or leave it as is if all cash is what you want.

Why does only part of the capital or of the weights count?

To review · Part of the capital stays in cash — "With 5 instruments and a maximum weight of 10%, the engine invests at most 50% and the rest stays in cash: raise the maximum weight or add instruments." A constrained Markowitz allocation, Long-only or Long/short with Min weight 0% or more, whose maximum times the instruments it holds is below 100% — see Limit MPT's weights. The count is your picked instruments, capped by Max positions, or Max positions with none picked; silent when the minimum already asks for more than 100%, with Force diversification on, or when Max weight is below Min weight.

To review · The engine uses only part of your weights — "With 5 instruments the engine uses only the first 5 levels and the later weights do not count, negative ones (short sales) included: reduce the levels or add instruments." A Ranking-based allocation on fewer than ten picked instruments, no entry screener, weighting levels past the number of instruments. Silent when every level carries the same weight, and when the alert above already says nothing is invested.

Which notes can the Allocation card show?

"With costs off, the levered return is higher than the real one" — "As long as the analysis runs without costs, borrowed money pays no interest: the levered return comes out higher than the real one." An allocation the engine reads has a leverage above 1 or, in a Fixed weights or Ranking-based setup, a negative weight — a short sale; a Markowitz long/short does not count. On the Allocation card only, not on the analysis.
"When a strategy goes to cash, the others do not take its share" — "When Momentum goes to cash, the engine does not move its share to the other strategies, and the share stays in cash until that strategy invests again." On a Combined's own Allocation card, when a member in use has its risk condition on and a Risk-Off allocation with leverage 0; with several, it names the first and adds "or one other strategy" or "or one of the other 2 strategies". See per-strategy risk layer.

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UPDATED 2026-10-07REVIEWED 2026-10-07