---
title: "Step by step"
description: "Step by step is Fincanva's strategy walk-through: one chapter at a time, with explanations beside the choices, ending in the Summary and the backtest."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/step-by-step"
last_updated: "2026-10-07"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/step-by-step.md"
---

# Step by step

**Step by step** is Fincanva's strategy walk-through: a map of chapters, one chapter open at a time, and an explanation beside the choices that need one, ending at the **Summary**, where you run the [backtest](/glossary/backtest). It edits the same [strategy](/glossary/strategy) as [All at once](/glossary/all-at-once); a preference decides which view a strategy opens in.

**Also seen as:** the walk-through

## What are the chapters of Step by step?

A single strategy's walk has six chapters, in this order, each holding the same controls All at once has for that part of the strategy.

| # | Chapter | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | **Strategy type** | the [strategy type](/glossary/strategy-type), with its four names and one-line descriptions |
| 2 | **Asset selection** | the instruments, or the [screener](/glossary/screener), the strategy will trade |
| 3 | **Allocation** | how capital is split: **Goal** · **Method** · **Settings** |
| 4 | **Rebalance** | how often the strategy [rebalances](/glossary/rebalance) |
| 5 | **Risk and exits** | **When** the strategy changes allocation, **Then: Risk-Off** what it changes to, and **Exits** |
| 6 | **Summary** | **Backtest settings** and the button that runs the backtest |

Which chapters each type requires, and how to walk them: [Build a strategy step by step](/docs/strategies/build-a-strategy-step-by-step). A [Combined](/glossary/combined) walks five chapters of its own: [Build a Combined step by step](/docs/strategies/build-a-combined-step-by-step).

## How does Fincanva handle it?

- **A preference decides the view.** **Profile › Preferences** has **How you build strategies**, with **Step by step** and **All at once**; until you choose, a strategy opens in All at once — see [Which view does a strategy open in?](#which-view-does-a-strategy-open-in)
- **One door, for one visit.** **See all at once** here and **See step by step** in All at once switch the view without touching the preference — see [How do you switch view for one visit?](#how-do-you-switch-view-for-one-visit)
- **Every chapter carries All at once's own controls**, so neither view can set something the other cannot, and the view never changes what the backtest computes. "All at once" names a view, not the Advanced plan.
- **The marks gate nothing.** A chapter you confirm is remembered per walk and decides where you land; it never switches the Backtest on or off.
- **A Public strategy** opens in Step by step but cannot be saved: its header's only action is **Copy to Mine** — see [Mine / Public](/glossary/mine-public).

## Which view should you use: Step by step or All at once?

Step by step when you would rather be walked past every decision, with the choices explained — a first build, or a change where the order of decisions is itself the help. All at once when you already know which setting to change, especially two or three unrelated ones: you [edit them on one page](/docs/strategies/edit-a-strategy-s-settings), save once and re-run once. The chapters are in [What are the chapters of Step by step?](#what-are-the-chapters-of-step-by-step). The two differ only in how much is on screen and how much explanation comes with it — see [All at once](/glossary/all-at-once#how-does-all-at-once-differ-from-step-by-step).

## Which view does a strategy open in?

The one you chose under **How you build strategies** in **Profile › Preferences**: **Step by step** or **All at once**. Until you choose, a strategy opens in All at once. The preference is yours, not the strategy's: it applies to every strategy you open, a [Public](/glossary/mine-public) one included, and the **Settings** tab follows it too. A [Live strategy](/glossary/live-strategy) opens on **Positions** whatever the preference, because someone following real money wants the positions first.

You choose it the first time you [create a strategy](/docs/strategies/create-a-strategy-and-choose-its-instruments): the **Create new** popup asks "How do you prefer to work?" above its tiles, with **Step by step** preselected. The answer is stored when a strategy or a Combined is actually created — opening and closing the popup answers nothing, and creating a screener does not count. Then the popup stops asking, and a new strategy opens in Step by step on its **Asset selection** chapter, or in All at once.

## How do you switch view for one visit?

With one control on each side, at the right end of the section band (the row of **Settings**, **Analysis** and **Positions**). It changes this visit only; next time the strategy follows the preference again.

- **All at once → Step by step** — **See step by step**, beside the label **All at once**. Every viewer has it, a Public strategy's reader included; on a member of a Combined it opens that member's walk.
- **Step by step → All at once** — **See all at once**, beside the label **Step by step**. On a member of a Combined it opens that member's own page.

Both views read and write the same working copy, so nothing you entered is lost, and what was unsaved stays unsaved — the switch is not a save. The old icon that toggled the views is gone, and the strategy's **⋯** menu carries no view item.

## What does it look like in practice?

You want a two-instrument strategy that rebalances monthly. In **Create new** you choose **Multiple instruments** and, as it is your first strategy, leave **Step by step** selected; the strategy opens on **Asset selection**, with **Strategy type** already confirmed. You add two tickers and confirm. On **Allocation** you leave the goal and method as offered; on **Rebalance** you set one month. **Risk and exits** is optional, so you press **Skip this chapter**, and on **Summary** you name the strategy and press **Run the backtest**. You could have pressed **Backtest** in the header from **Asset selection** on.

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)