How often your strategy rebalances

How the rebalance frequency works

The rebalance frequency is the interval at which the strategy rebuilds its target: it re-reads which instruments are in scope, re-applies the allocation weighting, and resets each position back to its intended weight. Between two rebalances the positions stay as they are and their weights simply drift with the market — nothing is bought or sold on the strategy's schedule until the next rebalance falls due. Because the strategy rebuilds its target only at these intervals, the frequency is the master clock for that schedule — though not every rule in the strategy runs on it.

What frequencies can I choose?

You choose from a fixed set of intervals in the Rebalance every control: 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, or 24 months (the unit shows as "mo"). One month is the most frequent cadence and 24 months is the slowest. The number you pick is the strategy's base cadence — a 1-month strategy re-checks twelve times a year, a 12-month strategy once a year. There is no weekly or daily setting today.

How does the frequency shape a backtest?

The frequency sets how often, across the tested history, the backtest stops to re-check and rebalance the strategy. A shorter interval means more rebalance points over the same period, so the strategy reacts to the market more often; a longer interval means fewer rebalance points and a strategy that holds each set of weights for longer. It does not change what a rebalance does at each point — only how many times it happens over the run. See How a backtest works for what a single run computes at each of those points.

Fincanva does not tell you which rebalance frequency is best for your money — see Is this financial advice?.

How do risk conditions and exits interact with the frequency?

The frequency paces some of these rules and not others, so the answer splits three ways. Risk conditions are not paced by it. Each condition is measured on the bars of the series it watches, and its Confirmation delay (weeks) counts calendar weeks from the flip rather than rebalance periods — see confirmation delay. Take profit and stop loss are not paced by it either. Each position's gain or loss is checked on that position's own price bars, so either exit can close a position between two rebalances — see execution time for the price such a close books at. Max hold is paced by it. It acts at the strategy's scheduled rebalances, which is why its value has to be a whole multiple of the frequency — see max hold months. Two settings change how a flip lands against the schedule:

• Auto-rebalance — a risk condition can carry a Triggers rebalance toggle (labelled Auto-rebalance on its card, with the note "Trigger a rebalance when the condition flips."). With it on, the moment the condition flips — for example into a Risk-Off state — the strategy performs an extra rebalance off its normal schedule, rather than waiting for the next scheduled one.
• Confirmation delay (weeks) — a risk condition can wait a set number of weeks after it flips before acting, so a brief flip doesn't trigger a reaction. Its hint reads "0 = act immediately."

Some period settings on risk and exit rules must be whole multiples of your rebalance frequency. If a value isn't, the app blocks it and tells you it must be a multiple of your chosen frequency in months. An off-schedule rebalance forced by a flip is not one of the scheduled rebalances those settings count: max hold and the Exclude-screener exit do not act on one. Where within a bar a take-profit or stop-loss exit actually fills is covered in execution time.

Limits and edge cases

The Rebalance every control offers only the fixed set of 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months — you can't enter an arbitrary number, and there is no sub-monthly option in the app today. Changing the frequency is a settings edit like any other: it takes effect on your working copy, and you re-run a backtest to see its effect — see Editing a strategy: the settings cards. The same rebalance frequency governs the whole strategy; it is not set per instrument.

Related

To change this setting on an existing strategy, follow Editing a strategy: the settings cards. To set it while building a new one, see Create a strategy. For where this fits among a strategy's parts, read What is a strategy?.