---
title: "Cash % and capital invested"
description: "Cash % is the share of your capital a target portfolio does not aim to hold; capital invested is the rest. Leverage below 1 is what usually creates cash."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/portfolio-holdings/cash-and-capital-invested"
last_updated: "2026-08-27"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/portfolio-holdings/cash-and-capital-invested.md"
---

# Cash % and capital invested

Cash % and capital invested are two readings of one split on a strategy's [Holdings](/docs/getting-started/holdings) view: **Cash** is the share of your capital that the target portfolio does not aim to hold, and **capital invested** is the share that it does. They always add to 100%, and both are measured against the [Capital](/docs/portfolio-holdings/capital) figure you entered — not against the positions alone. The `Cash` KPI at the top of the page and the headline percentage on the `Target allocation` card read the same split, so the two can never disagree.

**Also seen as:** idle cash, uninvested capital

## How are Cash % and capital invested calculated?

Both come from one sum: add up what every target position is meant to be worth, express it as a share of your capital, and whatever is missing is cash.

$$
\text{capital invested} = \sum_i \frac{\text{target value}_i}{\text{capital}} \times 100
\qquad
\text{Cash} = 100 - \text{capital invested}
$$

where $\text{target value}_i$ is holding *i*'s [target notional](/docs/portfolio-holdings/target-notional) in your base currency, capital is the amount entered on the Holdings view, and both results are percentages.

Note which figure that sum uses: the **target** value, before each position is rounded to whole shares. The extra sliver left over by rounding is measured separately, by [target vs deployed](/docs/portfolio-holdings/target-vs-deployed) and [accuracy](/docs/portfolio-holdings/accuracy) — it is not part of Cash %.

## Why do the allocation weights and the Cash % seem to disagree?

Because the two are normalised against different totals, and that is the single most confusing thing on the page.

- **Shares of a strategy's own slice.** A strategy's allocation weights divide up whatever that strategy was given. They add to 100% of its slice no matter how much of the slice it actually deploys.
- **Shares of your whole capital.** Cash %, capital invested, and every tile in the [target allocation treemap](/docs/portfolio-holdings/target-allocation-treemap) are expressed against the capital you entered, so cash shows up as a visible remainder.

So a strategy whose asset weights read 60/40 can still leave a quarter of its slice in cash: the 60/40 describes how the *invested* part is divided, not how much is invested. Read the weights when you want the mix; read Cash % when you want to know how much of the money is at work. For the same split across a whole backtest rather than at one date, see the [capital chart](/docs/analysis/capital-chart).

## What leaves capital in cash?

Two settings put capital in cash rather than into positions, and they stack:

- **Leverage below 1.** [Leverage](/docs/backtesting/leverage) is a multiplier on position sizes — `1.00 = no leverage`, with a range of `0.00 – 2.00` and presets from `Cash only` to `Max`. At `0.50` a strategy targets half the money it was allocated and the other half sits idle. This is the case that surprises people, because the asset weights still read as a full 100% split of the invested part.
- **A deliberate cash reserve.** A Combined's [Invested portion](/docs/backtesting/invested-portion) setting — `Share of capital this profile deploys` — holds back a slice on purpose.

Leverage above `1.00` works the other way: target positions can exceed your capital, and Cash % goes to zero.

## Defaults in Fincanva

- `Cash` is a percentage KPI at the top of the Holdings view; capital invested is the large percentage on the `Target allocation` card, captioned `capital invested`, and also appears as a muted `Cash` tile inside the treemap.
- Both are read for the rebalance date selected on the page and the capital entered there — change either and both recompute.
- Cash is capital the plan does not deploy, not a holding you can size or a position you can see in the table.
- If the strategy's last run reads **Needs re-run**, these figures come from that older run; the Portfolios page flags such a portfolio under [To update](/docs/portfolio-holdings/to-do-to-fix-to-finish-to-update).
- Nothing is traded. This is the split of a paper portfolio Fincanva monitors, never an instruction to move money (see [Portfolio](/docs/getting-started/portfolio)).

## Worked example

A portfolio shows `92%` capital invested with `Cash 8%`, on 100,000 of capital: 92,000 is targeted by positions and 8,000 is not. The cause is the strategy's Leverage setting of `0.92` — it deliberately targets 92% of what it was given.

Now decode the allocation beside it. The strategy's four holdings carry weights of 40 / 30 / 20 / 10 within its own slice, so their target values are 36,800 / 27,600 / 18,400 / 9,200 — 40% of 92,000, and so on. The treemap tiles read `36.8%`, `27.6%`, `18.4%`, `9.2%` and a muted `Cash 8%`, because tiles are shares of your capital and must total 100%. Both readings are correct at the same time: 40% of the strategy's slice is 36.8% of your capital. Set Leverage to `1.00` and Cash drops to 0% while the 40 / 30 / 20 / 10 mix does not change at all.

*These are the split of a paper target portfolio. Neither figure is a recommended amount to hold in cash or to put to work, and Fincanva does not tell you what leverage or cash reserve to set. Fincanva provides no financial advice — see [Is this financial advice?](/docs/investing-theory/is-this-financial-advice).*