Auto-rebalance on flip is the per-condition toggle that makes a strategy rebalance the moment a risk condition flips, instead of waiting for its next scheduled rebalance. It decides when a switch between Risk-On and Risk-Off reaches your holdings — never what the strategy switches to.
Also seen as: Auto-rebalance, Triggers rebalance, off-schedule rebalance
How does Fincanva handle it?
- The control is Auto-rebalance, with the note "Trigger a rebalance when the condition flips."; in the risk list a condition set this way is marked "Triggers rebalance".
- It is set per condition: each of a strategy's up-to-two conditions has its own toggle. A flip rebalances at once when a condition that changed state has it on, so the wait is certain only when every active condition has it off.
- Every built-in risk template arrives with it off.
- A forced rebalance is extra to the schedule: the Next rebalance date stays the scheduled one, and it trades with the costs the simulation assumptions apply to any rebalance.
- What it changes, and how it follows the confirmation delay, is in how a flip forces an off-schedule rebalance.
What does it look like in practice?
A strategy rebalances every 6 months. Its last rebalance was 1 March, so the next scheduled one is 1 September. On 10 May — four months into the cycle — its risk condition flips, with the Confirmation delay (weeks) at 0.
With Auto-rebalance on, the strategy rebalances on 10 May: the incoming allocation profile is applied that day and the holdings change mid-cycle. With Auto-rebalance off, the flip is recorded on 10 May but nothing trades; the strategy carries the outgoing profile's holdings for nearly four more months and only switches on 1 September. Same condition, same thresholds, same destination — a four-month difference in when your holdings reflect it. Shorten the cadence to Rebalance every 1 month and the gap narrows to weeks, which is why the toggle matters most on long cadences.
How can a Risk-Off flip force an off-schedule rebalance?
With Auto-rebalance on, a flip forces a rebalance the instant it happens, so the incoming allocation profile is applied off-schedule. With it off, the flip changes which profile is active, but the holdings do not change until the strategy's next scheduled rebalance — until then the strategy keeps the outgoing profile's mix. The destination is the same either way: the strategy ends up in the profile the condition asked for.
Two per-condition settings pace a flip in sequence. The confirmation delay first makes the condition wait a set number of weeks after it flips — 0 to 12, its hint reading "0 = act immediately." — so a brief flip sets off nothing; Auto-rebalance then decides whether acting means an off-schedule rebalance or a wait for the scheduled one.
When does Risk-Off act on your normal rebalance schedule?
When Auto-rebalance is off on every active condition, a flip takes effect at the strategy's next scheduled rebalance. The rebalance frequency, set in Rebalance every, is the master clock the flip rides — see How do risk conditions and exits interact with the frequency?.
The Risk card says when the switch reaches your holdings. At a cadence of 1 month the grey note "When the risk triggers, the portfolio changes at the rebalance" reads "A change of regime changes the portfolio at the next rebalance, the first Friday of the month, unless you turn on “Auto-rebalance”." At a longer interval it becomes the strategy alert to review "When the risk triggers, the portfolio changes late"; at a 3-month cadence the card adds "The portfolio changes only at the rebalance, up to 3 months later: turn on “Auto-rebalance”", and the alert's full explanation reads "When the rule triggers, the portfolio changes only at the next rebalance, up to 3 months later, and a shorter dip passes with no effect; turn on “Auto-rebalance” if you want it to act the same day." A Combined's own risk conditions read the same, naming the Combined and its own rebalance interval.
What are the limits and edge cases of a Risk-Off flip?
- Per condition, never per strategy. Each condition carries its own Auto-rebalance toggle and its own Confirmation delay (weeks), capped at 12 weeks.
- Nothing to switch to. If the Risk-Off profile is configured identically to Risk-On, a forced rebalance changes nothing — see Risk-Off canonicalization.
- Between two scheduled dates. A risk-triggered rebalance can fall anywhere between the previous scheduled rebalance and the next one shown.
- Exits run on their own terms. Position-level exits such as a stop loss act between rebalances by their own rule — see Position exits.
- No notification. The app sends no alert, push or email on a flip; you see the regime by opening the strategy — how you find out.
- Whether to use it at all is a trade-off covered in When to use risk management.