Run status

Every one of the seven describes the strategy, never Fincanva. Three of them — Set aside, Incomplete and To run — Fincanva knows from your own account and your own strategy, so they are true right now and need no engine at all. The other four describe the last backtest result, which Fincanva checks against your current settings and the latest market data rather than trusting a stored badge. When Fincanva cannot reach the compute engine, those four fall back to the last state it recorded — and if that recording is older than the latest market data, the chip says so by reading Needs re-run, not by printing a timestamp beside a word that is no longer true.

What each status means

Each chip is one of these states, quoted exactly as the app shows them:

• Set aside — your plan does not cover this strategy, so it cannot run however complete it is. In your library its row carries a small lock before the name, whose tooltip says which of the two reasons it is. It is the first thing Fincanva asks about a strategy, ahead of Incomplete, because finishing a strategy the plan does not cover would not make it runnable. Nothing is deleted and nothing is edited; the strategy becomes runnable again the moment the plan covers it. Pressing Backtest on it is refused with a message naming your plan — see plan compliance for the two things that put a strategy there and how each clears.
• Incomplete — the strategy does not yet hold enough to run: a Combined with fewer than two components, or one you have started and not filled in. There is nothing to launch, which is why it does not read To run: a Combined below the floor shows its Run button disabled, saying what is missing. Finish it and it becomes To run.
• To run — the strategy is complete but has never been backtested, so there is nothing to show yet.
• Computing — a run was launched and has not come back. Inside a results view the same state carries a live progress percentage (Computing results… {progress}%); you do not need to refresh, the results replace it when done.
• Up to date — the result matches your current settings and the latest data; the numbers are current.
• Needs re-run — the result on screen no longer stands, so what you see is the previous run, dimmed. Two different things put a strategy here and they mean the same thing to you: a setting changed since the last run, or a new market day arrived after it. Press Re-run.
• Failed — the last run produced no results. The strategy cannot be run again while both the market data and its own settings stay as they are; it becomes runnable again when new market data arrives, or as soon as you change the strategy's settings. Fincanva does not show why a run failed. Related reading: bankruptcy rules.

A green, up-to-date chip means the last result is current — it is not a promise that the results page will render, and a "no results" placeholder does not always mean you simply haven't run the strategy.

Can I re-run a strategy whose last run failed?

Not while both the market data and the strategy's settings stay as they are — and two different things un-stick it. New market data makes the strategy runnable again on its own, with nothing for you to do. Changing the strategy's own settings does it immediately: the starting year, the starting capital, the base currency, the portfolio settings, a cost or reinvest setting. That second one is the lever you actually hold today.

Changing only the benchmark is not a reliable way out. A benchmark is a separate comparison series rather than part of the strategy's own settings, so swapping it can leave the run exactly where it was. Change something in the strategy itself.

Opening a strategy whose last run failed shows a notice that stays on every tab of its workspace, headed The last run failed and reading The engine has no results for these settings and won't try again with the current market data. It can run again once new market data arrives — or as soon as you change the strategy's settings. A results section on that strategy says No results — the last run failed rather than inviting you to run it, and the freshness marker beside the results reads Last run failed with a see why link that opens the same answer.

The Backtest and Re-run buttons stay enabled, deliberately: new market data can make the strategy runnable again without anything in the app changing, so Fincanva lets the press ask rather than locking you out. Pressing one while nothing has changed does not start a run — Fincanva answers The last run failed; it can't be run again until new market data arrives, or you change the strategy's settings.

Fincanva does not tell you why a run failed. No notice, marker or message carries a reason, and there is nowhere in the app to look one up.

Why it flips to Needs re-run

Editing any setting that feeds the backtest flips the status to Needs re-run, because the saved result no longer matches your configuration. Changing the rebalance frequency, the benchmark, or a cost or tax rate in Settings all invalidate the last run. Flipping one of the three simulation assumption toggles does not: every combination is computed in the same run, so a toggle only picks which finished result is displayed. When a setting does invalidate the run, the app shows Settings changed — re-run to update the results. and keeps displaying the previous numbers, dimmed, until you re-run. A manual Backtest is today's reliable way to bring a strategy back Up to date.

Why a new market day flips it too, even when you changed nothing

A backtest result belongs to the market data it was computed against, so when a newer market day arrives the result stops being current — even though your settings are untouched. The chip moves from Up to date to Needs re-run for exactly the reason a settings change moves it: the numbers on screen no longer stand. Re-run brings the strategy onto the new day's data.

This is why a book left alone overnight can read Needs re-run almost everywhere the next morning, with nothing edited and nothing broken. It is the honest reading, and it is the one Fincanva now gives you: a result from an earlier market day is not up to date, however recently it was computed. Strategies you follow Live are recomputed for you on Fincanva's daily schedule, so they return to Up to date without you doing anything — see daily warm and data freshness.

What happens when Fincanva cannot reach the engine?

Most of your book does not change its wording at all — which is the point. A strategy that is Set aside, Incomplete or To run stays exactly as it was: those three are read from your own account and your own strategy, and are true whether or not the engine answers.

The other four fall back to the last state Fincanva recorded, and the page carries the caveat once, above the list: Couldn't reach the engine — showing results as of {date}. Where nothing was ever recorded, that line names no date and reads Couldn't reach the engine — showing the last available results. instead. A date qualifies an answer that is not current — never one that is. The chips themselves stay one word, because a status says what is true, not when somebody last looked; Up to date needs no date because it is current by definition. Wherever Fincanva shows you a date next to a run result — this banner, or the same caveat in the strategy's own menu — it is telling you the same thing: this is the last thing it managed to see, and here is when.

A recorded state is only believed while it can still be current. If the last recording predates the latest market data, the four engine-sourced states do not keep pretending: an Up to date or Computing recording from an earlier day reads Needs re-run, which is the truthful answer and the actionable one. Figures are kept either way, shown dimmed, so the page is never blank.

Two further consequences are worth knowing. A Computing row that Fincanva cannot confirm drops its progress percentage and its spinner: the state stays true — a run was launched and has not come back — but the percentage would be a claim about an engine nobody can reach. It keeps its place in the list rather than being moved to the bottom. And the counts beside a list are counts of what was last recorded, not of what is true right now.

What you will never see is a strategy whose state has become a statement about Fincanva. A perfectly healthy strategy does not turn into unavailable because a network call failed, and a strategy mid-recompute does not turn into needs re-run merely because the check did not go through — the two used to happen, and it hit hardest the strategies you follow Live, because those are the ones Fincanva keeps recomputing for you.

Worked example

A strategy is Up to date, rebalancing every three months. You open its settings and change the rebalance frequency to monthly, then save. Because the saved result was computed for the old cadence, the chip immediately flips to Needs re-run and the metrics dim. You press Re-run: the chip becomes Computing, the results view shows Computing results… 40%, and when the engine finishes it settles back to Up to date with the new monthly-rebalance numbers. You come back the following morning, having changed nothing: a new market day has arrived, so the chip reads Needs re-run again — and one more Re-run puts it back on the latest data.