How does asset selection work in a Fincanva model?

Modified on Mon, 28 Apr at 6:46 PM

In Fincanva, asset selection determines which assets your model is allowed to invest in.
This step is essential for shaping your strategy — it defines the investable universe from which your model can build positions based on your chosen criteria and logic.

Step 1: Choose Your Investable Assets Setting

When setting up asset selection, you first choose between two options:

All: The model can consider the full universe of assets available on Fincanva (e.g., all U.S. stocks, ETFs, or cryptocurrencies depending on your asset type selection).
Selected: A popup window will open, allowing you to manually pick specific assets to include. This gives you full control but limits the universe to only the assets you select.

Step 2: Refine Using Advanced Screening

After defining your initial universe, you can further refine asset selection using screeners. Screeners allow you to apply rules based on:

Fundamental data (e.g., P/E ratio, revenue growth)
Technical indicators (e.g., momentum, moving averages)
Sector or market characteristics (e.g., industry classification)

You can:

Apply screeners to all assets (if you selected All).
Apply screeners to only your manually Selected assets.

Types of Screening Logic

Screen In: Acts as entry criteria. Assets must pass these filters to be considered for inclusion in the model.
Screen Out: Acts as exclusion criteria. Assets matching these conditions are excluded, even if they otherwise meet entry rules.

Important Tips

Avoid Over-Filtering: If you manually select assets (Selected) and then apply very restrictive screeners, you could unintentionally filter out all of your chosen assets. Always double-check the result set after applying filters.
Combining Screeners with OR Logic: In Fincanva, you can apply multiple screeners using OR logic.
This means an asset only needs to meet one of your screening conditions to be eligible.

Example: Building a Growth-Focused Strategy

You want to create a model focused on growth companies with controlled volatility.

Screen In: Tech stocks with a market cap greater than $10 billion.
Screen Out: Any stock with volatility higher than 30%.

In this case:

Only large-cap tech stocks are considered.
Highly volatile stocks are excluded, ensuring a more stable selection.