---
title: "Asset type"
description: "The market family an instrument belongs to. A screener offers three — Stocks, ETPs, Crypto; beside a single instrument Fincanva recognises nine."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/getting-started/asset-type"
last_updated: "2026-08-29"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/getting-started/asset-type.md"
---

# Asset type

Asset type is the market family an instrument belongs to. In a screener it is the widest cut of the [universe](/docs/getting-started/universe) and the first choice you make in it — **Stocks**, **ETPs**, or **Crypto**: exactly one is active at a time, and the one you pick decides which other universe filters exist. Because only one is active, a screener set to Stocks can never return an ETP, and a screener set to ETPs can never return an individual company's shares. Next to an individual instrument the field is wider — Fincanva recognises nine asset types there, including ones the screener never offers.

**Also seen as:** Asset class — the industry's usual name for this field and also the label of one of the nine asset types described below.

## What are the three asset types?

The screener's universe selector offers three, and each covers a different family of instruments and brings its own set of universe filters:

| Asset type | What it covers | Universe filters it exposes |
|---|---|---|
| Stocks | Shares in individual companies | Country · Exchange · Asset subtype · Index · Sector |
| ETPs | Exchange-traded products — funds and notes that trade like shares | Country · Currency · Exchange · Asset subtype |
| Crypto | Cryptocurrencies | none |

Crypto has no further universe filters, so choosing it narrows the universe to crypto and nothing else. Stocks is the type a new screener starts on.

## How is asset type different from asset subtype?

Asset type is the family; **asset subtype** is the specific instrument kind inside it. Choosing the ETPs asset type gets you every exchange-traded product; the asset subtype filter then narrows that to ETFs, ETNs, ETCs, and so on — see [Asset subtypes](/docs/screeners/asset-subtypes) for what each abbreviation means.

Three labels that look like they belong in this taxonomy do not:

- **ETP** is an asset *type*, not a subtype — it is the parent of ETF, ETN, ETC, and the rest.
- **ADR** is a value of the **Country** filter, not a type or a subtype.
- **OTC** is a value of the **Exchange** filter, not a type or a subtype.

## Why do some instruments show an asset type the screener never offers?

Because the three asset types are what the **screener's universe selector** offers, while the asset type shown *next to an individual instrument* is that instrument's own — and Fincanva recognises nine of them. You meet the nine wherever the app labels a single instrument: the Positions table, Holdings, the instrument picker, and the selected-instruments table.

The nine are **Stocks**, **ETPs**, **Crypto**, **Currencies**, **Funds**, **Futures**, **Indices**, **Macro indicators**, and **Asset class**. The first three are the screener families above; the rest never appear as a universe choice, because you do not screen for them — they reach a strategy as a benchmark or a reference series rather than as something the screener returns.

Two of the nine are not self-explanatory:

- **Macro indicators** — a market or macro series rather than a tradable instrument: the Shiller PE, the S&P 500 dividend yield, and their kind.
- **Asset class** — a long-history return series for a whole asset class, going back further than any individual instrument does. "US Large Cap Value Investment Class 1926" is one.

Neither is something you buy. Both exist so a backtest can be measured against a long history, which is why they show up beside instruments you do hold.

## Defaults in Fincanva

- Exactly one asset type is active at a time — picking a new one replaces the current one rather than adding to it.
- Switching asset type hides the current type's universe filters but does not discard them: the app confirms with "Switching to `{target}` hides these universe filters: `{filters}`. You can restore them by switching back", and switching back restores what you had selected.
- Each asset type carries its own default selections, so Stocks and ETPs remember their filters independently.
- Asset type is also a column in a screener's results, labelled **Asset type** and explained in-app as "Stock, ETF, crypto, and so on."

## Worked example

You want exposure to semiconductors, and there are two ways to get it. A chipmaker's ordinary shares are an instrument of asset type **Stocks**: with Stocks active you can narrow by Sector, so a screener can look for the companies themselves. A semiconductor ETF that holds those same companies is an instrument of asset type **ETPs**: switch to ETPs and the Sector filter disappears (ETPs have no Sector filter) while a Currency filter appears instead.

The two never mix in one screener. A screener set to Stocks returns the chipmaker and never the ETF; set it to ETPs and it returns the ETF and never the chipmaker — even though both give you exposure to the same companies.