---
title: "Target notional"
description: "Target notional is a holding's target money amount in your strategy — its target weight times your capital, before rounding to whole shares."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/target-notional"
last_updated: "2026-10-07"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/target-notional.md"
---

# Target notional

Target notional is the amount a holding is meant to take in your [strategy](/glossary/strategy): its target weight multiplied by your capital, before Fincanva rounds it to a whole number of shares. On the Positions view the strategy's total is the "Target notional" KPI, and each holding's own target is the "Target value" column of the "Target positions & exits" sheet.

**Also seen as:** target position value

## How is target notional calculated?

Multiply the holding's target weight by your [capital](/glossary/capital). A target weight is the share of the strategy the allocation method assigns to that holding, so its target notional is simply that fraction of the capital you set for the strategy.

$$
\text{target notional} = {\text{target weight}} \times {\text{capital}}
$$

where:

- the holding's share of the strategy (negative for a short)
- the amount entered on the Positions view

The capital here is the Positions view's amount, not the strategy's [starting capital](/glossary/starting-capital), which is a [backtest](/glossary/backtest) input.

## How does Fincanva handle it?

- The "Target notional" KPI adds up every holding's target and follows the capital figure the Positions view is working from.
- Target notional is the ideal, pre-rounding figure the allocation aims for at a [rebalance](/glossary/rebalance); the amount actually put to work is a little smaller once each position is rounded to whole shares.
- Changing your capital rescales every holding's target notional proportionally — the weights stay the same, only the money behind them changes.
- Nothing is traded: these are the target figures Fincanva monitors on paper for a [live-followed strategy](/glossary/live-strategy), not real orders.

## What does it look like in practice?

A holding has a target weight of 10% and you set 25,000 of capital. Its target notional is 0.10 × 25,000 = 2,500 — the position is meant to be worth 2,500. If the [instrument](/glossary/instrument) trades at 412, that 2,500 only buys 6 whole shares, so slightly less than the full target ends up deployed. The difference between the target and what fits in whole shares is covered by [target vs deployed](/glossary/target-vs-deployed).

*A target notional is the money amount a strategy's paper target positions imply, never a real order, and it is not a recommended amount to invest in that instrument.*

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)