Saving, running, and copying a strategy

↗See this in Fincanva — the header of a strategy's workspace

Before you start

You need a strategy open in its workspace — see Create a strategy if you haven't made one yet. If the strategy is Public, you can change its settings locally to see how they'd look, but you can't save those changes to it directly — see "Why can't I save changes to a Public strategy?" below.

Steps

1. Open the strategy from your library and go to its Settings.
2. Change a card — see Editing a strategy for what each one controls. The header's primary button switches to Save as soon as you have an unsaved change.
3. Select Save. Fincanva shows a "Saved" toast when the write succeeds, or "Couldn't save — try again." if it fails — select the button again (it now reads Retry save) to retry.
4. Once there's nothing left to save, the same button switches back to Backtest — select it to run a new backtest on the strategy's current saved version. While it's running, the button reads "Backtesting…", adding the percentage once progress is known.
5. To duplicate a strategy you own, open its ⋯ menu (top right of the header) and select Duplicate. Fincanva names the copy after the original with "(copy)" appended, shows a "Strategy duplicated" toast, and opens the new copy — the original is untouched. The same duplicate action is also available as Duplicate from a strategy's row menu in your library list, without opening the strategy first.
6. To get an editable version of a Public strategy, open it and select Copy to Mine — on a Public strategy this is the only action shown in the header. Fincanva adds the copy to your own library and shows "Copied to your strategies".

What you should see

After Save, the header's primary button reverts to Backtest and the strategy's Settings show your change. After a backtest run finishes, see How a backtest works for what a run actually computes and the states a result can show. A duplicate — from either Duplicate or Duplicate — is a fully independent strategy: it starts from the strategy's last saved version, and editing, saving, or deleting the copy never touches the original. As with any backtest result, Fincanva doesn't tell you whether a change is good or bad for your money — see Is this financial advice?.

The header actions, one by one

Common problems

Why can't I save changes to a Public strategy?

Save doesn't appear in the header for a Public strategy — there's nothing to persist to the original. Select Copy to Mine to add an editable copy to your own library, then change and save that copy instead.

Why is Backtest disabled on a Combined strategy?

A Combined strategy needs at least two components to run. If it has fewer, Backtest stays disabled — add a component in Settings, then run it.

Why was my run refused?

Because one of the setup checks below failed, and the message names which one and the step that fixes it. Fincanva asks the same question wherever a run starts — the header's Backtest, Run in your library list, Retry backtest on a failed run, and the re-run on an analysis or holdings page all go through it — so the answer never depends on where you pressed.

Often the control is already unavailable and carries the reason before you press it, and the wording is the same as if you had. Your library list is the one exception: there, a Combined missing a component is disabled with "Add one more strategy to run this Combined." — the same problem, worded differently and without naming a step. Every other refusal uses the sentences below.

The checks, and the message each one produces:

Each of those arrives with the step that owns the fix appended to it, in the form "Fix it in Components." — so a Combined missing a component reads "This Combined strategy is incomplete — add a second component before running it. Fix it in Components." Today that step is Asset selection, Allocation, or Components — the three a refusal can point at. Open it, fix what it names, then run again.

The unreadable-settings refusal is the one that names no step: the stored strategy is damaged, and no step in the editor can show what it held, so the sentence itself says what to do. The same sentence can answer Save: since the editor cannot show those settings, a save that would replace them with nothing is refused rather than allowed to erase them.

If Fincanva cannot name the cause it falls back to "This strategy can't run yet; fix the highlighted issue first".

Can I see previous versions of a strategy?

Not today — Fincanva doesn't keep a version history you can browse or restore. If you want to preserve a strategy's current state before making a risky change, select Duplicate first: the copy is independent, so the original stays exactly as it was.