---
title: "Matches"
description: "Matches are the instruments that pass every filter in a screener, shown as a live count that updates as you edit filters and turns red at zero."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/screeners/matches"
last_updated: "2026-07-24"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/screeners/matches.md"
---

# Matches

Matches are the instruments in a screener's universe that pass every one of its filters at once, shown as a live count that updates as you add, edit, or remove filters. The count is the single number on the **Matches** tab; when no instrument passes, it reads zero in a red (destructive) style, signalling the screener has nothing to act on. Because filters combine with AND, an instrument has to clear all of them to be counted.

## How the match count changes as you add filters

Every filter narrows the pool: a screener starts from its [universe](/docs/getting-started/universe) and keeps only the instruments that satisfy all of its [filters](/docs/getting-started/filter) together. Adding a filter can lower the count or leave it unchanged, but never raise it; removing or loosening a filter can only raise it. This is why a screen with more filters usually shows fewer matches — each condition is one more test an instrument must pass. Where a **Highest** or **Lowest** filter sits in that chain also matters, because it ranks only the instruments still passing at its own position — see [sequential filtering and Top-N ranking](/docs/screeners/sequential-filtering-and-top-n-ranking).

## What a zero count means

A zero count means no instrument in the universe passes all the filters together, and the **Matches** badge turns red to flag it. It usually points to filters that are too tight or that contradict each other rather than to an error. Widen a range, remove a filter, or broaden the universe to bring instruments back into the set.

## Defaults in Fincanva

- The match count is the single count surface — it appears as the number on the **Matches** tab and updates live as you edit filters.
- At zero it switches to the destructive (red) badge style; above zero it shows as a plain count.
- Before a screener has run, the count can read "Run to see matches" instead of a number.
- The set of matches is what a backtest or an attached strategy draws from. It is not the same as what a strategy ends up holding: a simulation trims the candidate list with the [max-symbols cap](/docs/screeners/max-symbols-cap) and then holds only as many as **Max positions** allows.

## Worked example

A screener over US stocks starts from its whole universe. You add a first filter, `P/E < 20`, and the count drops to, say, 620 matches; a second, `Sector = Technology`, brings it to 90; a third, `Market cap > $10B`, leaves 47. The readout now shows "47 matches" — the 47 instruments that satisfy all three filters at once. Remove the sector filter and the count rises again, because fewer conditions have to be met.