---
title: "Filter"
description: "A filter is one screening rule inside a screener — a metric, a comparison mode, and the values it is tested against. An instrument must pass every filter."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/getting-started/filter"
last_updated: "2026-08-02"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/getting-started/filter.md"
---

# Filter

A filter is one screening rule inside a [screener](/docs/getting-started/screener) — a metric, a comparison mode, and the value or values it is tested against. Each filter is a single condition an instrument either passes or fails, and because filters combine with AND, an instrument has to pass every filter in the screener to become a [match](/docs/screeners/matches). You add filters from the **Add a filter** panel and edit each one in place.

**Also seen as:** screening rule, screening criterion

## What is a filter made of?

Three parts, plus an optional fourth. The **metric** is what the filter reads — Market Cap, P/E, a moving average. The **comparison mode** is the relation it applies: vs Value, Between, vs Lagged Self, Highest / Lowest, or [vs Aggregate](/docs/screeners/aggregate-comparisons) (see [comparison modes](/docs/screeners/comparison-modes)). The **value** is what the metric is tested against — one number, a range, a lag, or a rank, depending on the mode. Optionally the **Advanced** panel shifts or scales the reading with Lag, Period, and Multiplier (see [lag, period, and multiplier](/docs/screeners/lag-period-and-multiplier)). While you edit, a plain-language restatement appears under "You're saying", so you can read the rule back as a sentence before applying it.

## Where do filters come from?

Filters come from a catalogue Fincanva maintains, grouped by category in the **Add a filter** panel. Today that catalogue holds 118 filters — 84 Fundamental, 20 Technical, and 14 Market & Sector — alongside the Universe filters that decide which instruments are eligible in the first place (see [universe](/docs/getting-started/universe)). Two categories are visible but not yet available: Macro is marked "Coming soon", and custom filters are "post-V1". Not every filter supports every comparison mode, and the editor offers only the relations the chosen filter supports.

## Defaults in Fincanva

- Filters are ANDed, never ORed, so adding one can only lower the match count or leave it unchanged; removing or loosening one can only raise it.
- Each filter applies to the [asset types](/docs/getting-started/asset-type) it is defined for. Switching asset type hides the universe filters that no longer apply, and switching back restores them.
- A filter's Advanced inputs carry the unit the filter counts in — Months Ago, Reports Ago, Quarters, Days, Bars, or Std Devs. You enter the number; the filter fixes the unit.
- Deleting a filter changes only the screener you are editing; the filter stays in the catalogue for every other screener.

## Worked example

Take `P/E < 15`. The metric is P/E, the comparison mode is **vs Value**, the operator is `<`, and the value is 15 — read back under "You're saying" as "P/E is less than 15". An instrument passes when its latest P/E reading sits below 15. Switch the same filter to **Between** and the single value becomes a low–high pair, `P/E between 10 and 20`. Switch it to **Highest / Lowest** and the value becomes a rank rather than a threshold, keeping only the top or bottom N. The metric never moved — only the relation, and what that relation needs from you.