---
title: "Event-time path"
description: "An event-time path re-centres every matched instrument on its selection date (day 0) and plots the average path afterwards, overlaying picks from any year."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/screeners/event-time-path"
last_updated: "2026-07-24"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/screeners/event-time-path.md"
---

# Event-time path

An event-time path is a chart that lines up a [screener backtest](/docs/screeners/screener-backtest)'s matched instruments by *when they were selected* rather than by calendar date, so day 0 is always the pick date. From that shared starting point it plots the average path of the matches afterwards, letting you read what typically happened to instruments after a screener would have selected them. Because every match is re-centred on its own selection day, picks made in different years overlay on one timeline. It shows the *shape* of what followed a selection; a [holding horizon](/docs/screeners/holding-horizon) figure, by contrast, condenses one fixed length of hold into a single number.

## Why day 0 is the selection date

Setting day 0 to the selection date is what makes the picks comparable. Calendar-aligned, an instrument picked in 2015 and one picked in 2020 can't be averaged meaningfully; event-aligned, both start at their own day 0 and the chart can average "one month after selection", "six months after selection", and so on across every pick. The line to the right of day 0 is the average of those aligned paths, so a single curve summarises many selections at once.

## What the path does and doesn't tell you

The path shows the average behaviour after selection — not any single instrument's outcome, and not a forecast. It reads left to right from day 0: a curve that rises after day 0 means the matches, on average, moved up over the window shown, while a fall means the opposite. It is a way to inspect the after-selection behaviour of a screener's picks alongside the match count and the filters that produced them.

## Worked example

A screener's event-time path sets day 0 at each instrument's selection date. Reading right from day 0, the average line shows how the picks moved one, three, six, and twelve months after they were selected — a pick from 2016 and one from 2021 both counted from their own day 0. The point at day 0 is the selection moment itself, so the path starts flat there; everything to its right is the average journey afterwards.

*The path averages what happened after past selections on historical data, not what will follow the next one, and no shape it takes is a reason to buy or sell anything. Fincanva provides no financial advice — see [Is this financial advice?](/docs/investing-theory/is-this-financial-advice).*