---
title: "Create a strategy and choose its instruments"
description: "Create a Fincanva strategy: pick a strategy type, then complete the stepper — assets, risk, allocation, exit rules — and save it to backtest."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/strategies/create-a-strategy-and-choose-its-instruments"
last_updated: "2026-08-29"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/strategies/create-a-strategy-and-choose-its-instruments.md"
---

# Create a strategy and choose its instruments

You create a strategy (formerly called a *model*) from **Single** by picking a [strategy type](/docs/getting-started/strategy-type) and completing a short stepper, then selecting **Backtest**.

↗ See this in Fincanva — Strategies, under New strategy

## Before you start
You need to be signed in. You do not need any existing strategies — this creates your first one.

## Steps
1. Open **Single** in the sidebar and select **New strategy**.
2. Answer "How do you want to build this strategy?" by choosing one of the four strategy types: **Single instrument**, **Multiple instruments**, **Screener**, or **Full setup**. Each shapes which stepper steps you see next — see [Choosing a strategy type](/docs/strategies/choosing-a-strategy-type) for what each one is for. To configure every setting on one page instead, pick **Full setup** and switch to **All at once** once the strategy is open.
3. Work through the stepper, in this order: **General** ("Set up your strategy"), **Asset selection** ("Pick assets"), **Risk** ("Set risk conditions"), **Allocation** ("Distribute capital"), **Exit rules** ("Define exit rules"), then **Review** ("Review & launch"). Your strategy type decides which of these steps appear — **Single instrument** is the leanest (just Asset selection and Review), while **Full setup** shows all six. See [Choosing a strategy type](/docs/strategies/choosing-a-strategy-type) for the per-type breakdown.
4. In **Asset selection**, add the instrument(s) — or, for the **Screener** type, the screener — the strategy will trade.
5. Fill in whichever other steps your strategy type shows: a name and rebalance frequency in General, [risk conditions](/docs/strategies/risk-condition) in the "Set risk conditions" step, weights in Allocation, take-profit/stop-loss conditions in Exit rules. A risk condition switches the strategy between two allocation profiles — Risk-On and Risk-Off — and never pauses, stops or liquidates it, unless the Risk-Off profile you set is itself cash.
6. On **Review & launch**, check the recap and the "Strategy alerts" panel, then select **Backtest**.

## What you should see
The strategy appears in your **Single** library and a backtest starts running on it. Selecting **Backtest** does not take you anywhere: you stay on the final step while the run works — the button in the header reads "Backtesting…", adding the percentage once progress is known — and when the run finishes a **View results** button appears next to **Back** and opens the strategy's **Analysis** section. On **Review & launch**, the "Strategy alerts" panel lists errors — which block the launch until fixed — and warnings, which don't. To understand how the pieces you just configured fit together, read [What is a strategy?](/docs/strategies/what-is-a-strategy-in-fincanva). Once the strategy exists, see [Editing a strategy](/docs/strategies/editing-a-strategy-the-settings-cards) for how to change its instruments, allocation, or exit rules later, and [CAGR](/docs/analysis/cagr) for one of the metrics your first backtest will report.

## Common problems
### Why can't I continue past a step?
Each strategy type enforces its own instrument or screener count before you can move on, and you'll see one of these messages if a step is missing what it needs:
- "Pick exactly 1 instrument." — the **Single instrument** type requires exactly one instrument.
- "Pick 2 or more instruments." — the **Multiple instruments** type requires at least two.
- "Add at least 1 screener." — the **Screener** strategy type requires at least one screener.

Add the missing instrument or screener in **Asset selection**, then continue.

### Why won't the General step accept the name I typed?
Because a strategy name has to be at least two characters, and the **General** step will not save one that is shorter. Clear the name or leave a single character and the field shows "Enter a name of at least 2 characters." underneath it, and the step will not let you move on — **Continue** in the stepper, or **Save** when you open **General** from the Review tiles, stays unavailable until you fix it. Type a longer name and both clear.

Two characters is what the server requires, so a name this step accepts is one that will save.

### What happens while a strategy is being created?
The tiles that create are the four strategy-type tiles and **Combined strategy**. Press one and it shows that it is working while the others stop accepting clicks, so one press creates exactly one thing, however many times you click — **Create new** stays open for the whole request rather than closing on the press. Pressing **Single strategy** creates nothing on the spot: it opens the four strategy-type tiles, and the tile you pick there is what creates.

Three things follow from that:

- **Closing the dialog does not cancel the create.** Press **Esc**, click the backdrop, or use the close button while it runs and the strategy still exists afterwards — see [What happens when I pick a strategy type from Home?](/docs/getting-started/home-the-page-you-land-on-after-signing-in#what-happens-when-i-pick-a-strategy-type-from-home), which describes what Fincanva does in that moment and how to undo it.
- **The name in that toast is the one Fincanva actually saved**, which is not always the one you expected: if you already have an *Untitled strategy*, the new one is saved as *Untitled strategy (1)* and the toast says so.
- **The Screener tile creates nothing either, and it appears on one door only.** You reach it from **Create new** in the sidebar; every other route into this dialog offers **Single strategy** and **Combined strategy** alone. Pressing it takes you straight to a new screener with nothing to wait for, and nothing is saved until you save it yourself.

The **Combined strategy** tile behaves like the strategy tiles: it saves a real Combined and opens it. It is the one tile that can answer "not yet" instead — with no strategies of your own to combine, pressing it opens a screen inside the Combined flow that reads "A Combined blends your own strategies — you have none yet. Create one to start." and offers a **Create a strategy first** button, which takes you on to the strategy-type tiles; a **Back** control on that step returns you to the Combined screen. Still nothing is created until you actually create and own a strategy.