---
title: "Max hold months"
description: "Max hold months is a time-based exit that closes a position at the first rebalance once it has been held for the number of whole months you set."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/strategies/max-hold-months"
last_updated: "2026-09-17"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/strategies/max-hold-months.md"
---

# Max hold months

Max hold months is a time-based exit that closes a position once it has been held for the number of whole months you set — but at the **first scheduled rebalance at or after** that point, not on the position's month anniversary. It is a cap on how long any single position may stay in a strategy, regardless of whether the position is up or down. In the app the control is labelled **Max hold**, with the helper "Sell a position after holding it this long".

**Also seen as:** Max hold, maximum holding period, hold cap.

## When does max hold actually close a position?

Max hold acts at the strategy's **scheduled** rebalance dates, so a position leaves at the first scheduled rebalance at which it has been held long enough — never partway through a period, and never on a rebalance a [risk condition](/docs/strategies/risk-condition) forced off schedule.

$$
t_{\text{exit}} = \min \{\, t \in R \;:\; t - t_{\text{entry}} \ge N \text{ months} \,\}
$$

where: $R$ is the set of the strategy's **scheduled** rebalance dates, $t_{\text{entry}}$ is the date the position was opened, $N$ is the max hold months you set, and $t_{\text{exit}}$ is the date the position is closed. The practical consequence is that the realised holding period is *at least* N months and can be longer — up to one rebalance interval longer — so a max hold is a floor on the hold, not an exact stopwatch.

Because the exit lands on a scheduled rebalance date, the value you enter has to line up with the rebalance clock: it must be a whole multiple of the strategy's rebalance interval, and the app blocks anything else with "Must be a multiple of `{rebalanceEvery}` months". That whole-multiples rule belongs to the rebalance cadence itself and is described in full under [rebalance](/docs/backtesting/rebalance).

## Defaults in Fincanva

- Off by default. When you switch it on, the value starts at the strategy's own rebalance interval — always a valid multiple — and you raise it from there.
- Entered in months (the field's suffix reads "mo"), up to a maximum of 120 months; the field itself will not take a value outside that range.
- The value must stay a whole multiple of the rebalance interval, so changing the cadence can leave a value you already set invalid — see [rebalance](/docs/backtesting/rebalance).
- A position closed by this rule is recorded with the exit reason **Max hold** — see [exit reason](/docs/strategies/exit-reason) for the full list of causes a backtest records.
- Max hold is one of the per-position exits, alongside [take profit](/docs/strategies/take-profit) and [stop loss](/docs/strategies/stop-loss). It looks only at elapsed time; it does not look at the position's gain or loss.
- Only the strategy's scheduled rebalances act on it. Take profit and stop loss run on the position's own price bars and can close it between two rebalances; max hold cannot, and a rebalance forced off schedule by a risk condition does not close a position for max hold.

## Worked example

A strategy rebalances every month and has max hold set to **5** months. A position opened on the 12 January rebalance is 5 whole months old on 12 June, which is also a rebalance date, so it is closed there and its trade history shows the reason **Max hold**. Nothing happens at the February through May rebalances — the clock has not run out yet — and nothing happens between rebalances either.

The quantization shows up when a position does not enter on a scheduled date. Suppose a [risk condition](/docs/strategies/risk-condition) forces an off-schedule rebalance on 20 January and a position opens then. Five whole months later is 20 June, which is not a scheduled rebalance date, so the position stays on until the next scheduled rebalance after that point and is closed there instead — held slightly more than five months. Had a second off-schedule rebalance fallen on 20 June, the position would still not have closed there: an off-schedule rebalance does not act on max hold. Now raise the cadence to every 3 months: 5 is no longer a whole multiple of 3, so the app refuses it with "Must be a multiple of 3 months", and the nearest valid settings are 3 or 6 months.

*Fincanva does not recommend a holding period, or whether to cap one at all — a backtest shows what a setting would have done on historical data, not what it will do. See [Is this financial advice?](/docs/investing-theory/is-this-financial-advice#is-this-financial-advice).*