---
title: "Universe"
description: "A universe is the set of instruments a screener or strategy can draw from; 'All' is the whole market, narrowed by filters until only what you want remains."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/getting-started/universe"
last_updated: "2026-07-24"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/getting-started/universe.md"
---

# Universe

A universe is the set of instruments a [screener](/docs/getting-started/screener) or strategy is allowed to draw from. "All" means the whole market; you narrow it with [filters](/docs/getting-started/filter) — on things like country, exchange, index, sector, [asset type](/docs/getting-started/asset-type), and asset subtype — until only the instruments you want to consider remain. Everything a strategy screens, ranks, or buys comes from this universe, and anything outside it can never be selected. The universe is the boundary; the filters inside a screener then choose from within it.

**Also seen as:** investable assets

The filters that narrow a universe were previously surfaced under the label "Restrictions"; that name is retired.

## Defaults in Fincanva

- "All" is the widest universe — the whole searchable market, including instruments that have since delisted, so a backtest is not limited to today's survivors.
- Each filter you add (country, exchange, index, sector, asset type, asset subtype) shrinks the universe, and combining filters narrows it further.
- A screener and its strategy draw only from the resulting universe; changing the universe changes what can be selected and can change results.

## Worked example

You start from "All" — roughly the whole catalogue of tradable [instruments](/docs/getting-started/instrument), tens of thousands of them. You add a country filter for the United States and an asset-type filter for stocks. The universe shrinks to US-listed stocks only. From then on the screener ranks, and the strategy buys, solely within that reduced set — a non-US stock or an ETP can no longer appear, however well it would have scored.