---
title: "Shared compute"
description: "Shared compute is Fincanva computing one result per distinct strategy setup and reusing it, so a strategy whose exact setup was already run returns at once."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/backtesting/shared-compute"
last_updated: "2026-08-27"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/backtesting/shared-compute.md"
---

# Shared compute

Shared compute is Fincanva computing one result per distinct strategy setup and reusing it wherever that same setup appears, so a strategy whose exact setup has already been computed returns its result immediately instead of running from scratch. A result belongs to the setup that produced it — the instruments, the rules, the settings, the start year, the benchmark — and not to the account that asked for it. Two strategies that are identical in every one of those respects are the same question with one answer.

**Also seen as:** deduplication, result reuse

## Why was my run instant?

Because the answer already existed. Pressing Run on a setup that has been computed before does not recompute it: the finished result is served, [compute time](/docs/backtesting/compute-time) reads a fraction of a second, and the [status](/docs/backtesting/run-status) goes to **Up to date** without ever passing through a visible **Computing** phase. The reverse also happens: a strategy you have just created can already be **Computing** the first time you look at it, because an identical setup is already being computed and its result is the one you will get.

## What counts as the same setup?

Everything that feeds the [backtest](/docs/getting-started/backtest). Change one input — an instrument, a rebalance cadence, the benchmark, a cost or tax rate, the start year — and the setup is no longer the same, so no existing result matches it and the next run computes in full. Change nothing and it stays a match, which is why duplicating a strategy and running the copy is effectively free. The three [assumption toggles](/docs/backtesting/precomputed-toggle-variants) are the exception that proves the rule: they are not part of the setup, because all of their combinations are computed in the same run.

## Defaults in Fincanva

- Asking for a setup that is already computing does not start a second run of it — you wait on the one already under way and get its result.
- Reuse is not a stored badge that can go stale: a reused result is still checked against your settings and the latest market data, so a match that is no longer current is recomputed rather than served (see [data freshness](/docs/backtesting/data-freshness-and-frontier)).
- Public strategies benefit the most, because many accounts open the same setups — and a separate server-side sweep, not your [daily warm](/docs/backtesting/daily-warm-of-live-strategies), has usually computed them before anyone arrives.
- Nothing about your strategy is shown to anyone else by reuse; what is shared is the computed answer to an identical setup.

## Worked example

A public strategy has been run many times, so its result exists. You use Copy to Mine and press Run on your copy without editing anything: the setup matches, the finished result is served, and the **Compute** column reads a near-instant time — no queue, no progress bar. You then change one thing, the [rebalance](/docs/backtesting/rebalance) cadence, from quarterly to monthly. That single edit makes the setup new: nothing matches it, the status flips to **Needs re-run**, and the next run computes the whole backtest for the first time, with a compute time that reflects the full work. Change the cadence back to quarterly and the original result matches again.