---
title: "Aggregate comparisons"
description: "An aggregate comparison tests an instrument's metric against a Market or Sector figure — its Index, Average, Median, 75th, or 25th percentile."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/screeners/aggregate-comparisons"
last_updated: "2026-07-24"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/screeners/aggregate-comparisons.md"
---

# Aggregate comparisons

An aggregate comparison tests an instrument's metric against a population figure rather than a fixed number — the **vs Aggregate** relation on a screener filter. You choose a **Scope** (Market or Sector) and an **Aggregate** statistic (Index, Average, Median, 75th percentile, or 25th percentile), and the filter keeps instruments on your chosen side of that figure. It lets you screen relative to peers instead of against an absolute threshold. It is not the same thing as the **Market & Sector** filter category: those filters *read* a market or sector figure instead of the instrument's, while an aggregate comparison reads the instrument's own metric and only borrows a market or sector figure as the threshold (see [filter taxonomy](/docs/screeners/filter-taxonomy)).

## How an aggregate comparison is built

You set two things. The **Scope** names the group the figure is drawn from — **Market** or **Sector**. The **Aggregate** sets how that group is summarised into one number:

- **Index** — the index-level figure for the chosen scope.
- **Average** — the mean across the group.
- **Median** — the middle value of the group.
- **75th percentile** — the value three-quarters of the way up the group.
- **25th percentile** — the value one-quarter of the way up the group.

The filter then keeps instruments above or below that figure, according to the direction you set. Because the reference is a population statistic, the pass/fail line moves with the group as data updates, unlike a fixed value that stays put.

## Defaults in Fincanva

- The scopes available today are **Market** and **Sector**; no other scope is offered on any filter.
- The aggregate statistic is one of Index, Average, Median, 75th percentile, or 25th percentile.
- The comparison is relative — the threshold is recomputed from the population rather than typed in as a number.

## Worked example

A screener over technology stocks adds a Price/Earnings filter in **vs Aggregate** mode, sets **Scope = Sector** and **Aggregate = Median**, and keeps instruments below that figure. The filter now passes only technology names whose P/E sits under the sector's median P/E — a peer-relative screen that shifts as valuations move, where a fixed `P/E < 15` would not.