---
title: "Holding horizon"
description: "A holding horizon is how long a screener backtest assumes you keep each match after it is selected — measured at 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/screeners/holding-horizon"
last_updated: "2026-07-25"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/screeners/holding-horizon.md"
---

# Holding horizon

A holding horizon is how long a [screener backtest](/docs/screeners/screener-backtest) assumes you keep each match after the [screener](/docs/getting-started/screener) selects it. Six horizons are measured on every run — **1, 2, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months** — and each one gets its own figure, so a single run tells you how the same filters looked over a short hold and over a long one. The horizon is a measurement window, not a setting on your screener: nothing about the filters changes between horizons, only how far forward the outcome is read.

## Why a screener backtest reports six horizons instead of one

Filters do not work equally well over every length of hold, and one number would hide that. A screen that catches short-lived moves can look strong at one month and unremarkable at two years; a screen built on slow fundamental change can look flat early and stronger later. Measuring all six horizons on the same run makes that shape visible, and it is what the **Edge by holding horizon** card plots: one column per horizon, the annualized edge against the benchmark, positive above the line and negative below it.

## What "the best horizon" means

The best horizon is simply the horizon with the **highest annualized edge over the benchmark** on this run — the one starred in the horizon label band and quoted in the verdict band as "holding picks for `{n}` months — the best horizon". It is a description of the run you just made, over the period it covered, not a holding period Fincanva recommends and not a prediction that the same horizon will lead next time. A run can perfectly well have a best horizon whose figure is still negative: it means every horizon trailed the benchmark and that one trailed least.

## Defaults in Fincanva

- The six horizons are fixed at **1, 2, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months**; you cannot add, remove, or re-length them.
- Every horizon is measured from the same selection dates on the same monthly cadence, so the six figures are directly comparable to each other.
- Horizon figures in the verdict band and the **Edge by holding horizon** card are **edges** against [the benchmark](/docs/screeners/screener-backtest-benchmark), so they are quoted in percentage points (pp), not as returns.
- The per-filter [impact table](/docs/screeners/filter-impact-lenses) has its own horizon selector over the same six values, and it opens on **12 months**.
- A horizon whose benchmark figure is missing shows "—" rather than a number, because an edge without a benchmark side cannot be computed.

## Worked example

One run of a three-filter screener returns `+4.1 pp` annualized at the 3-month horizon and `+0.6 pp` at 12 months. Read that as: on this history, the matches beat the benchmark by about four annualized points when held for a quarter, and by only about half a point when held for a year — the advantage was concentrated shortly after selection and faded as the hold lengthened. Because 3 months carries the largest edge, it is the starred best horizon, and the verdict band's hero figure is the `+4.1 pp`. Note what the two numbers do *not* say: `+4.1 pp` at 3 months is not four times better than `+0.6 pp` at 12 months in absolute money — both are annualized rates, and each is the average across every selection date the run covered.

*These figures describe what a screener's matches would have done on historical data, not what they will do. Fincanva provides no financial advice — see [Is this financial advice?](/docs/investing-theory/is-this-financial-advice).*