---
title: "Cash % and capital invested"
description: "Cash % is the capital a target portfolio does not aim to hold; capital invested is the rest. Leverage above 1 can push Cash % negative — margin debt."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/cash-and-capital-invested"
last_updated: "2026-09-28"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/cash-and-capital-invested.md"
---

# Cash % and capital invested

Cash % and capital invested are two readings of one split on a [strategy](/glossary/strategy)'s [Positions](/glossary/positions) view: **Cash** is the share of your capital that the target portfolio does not aim to hold, and **capital invested** is the share that it does. They always add to 100%, and both are measured against the [Capital](/glossary/capital) figure you entered — not against the positions alone. The `Cash` KPI at the top of the page and the headline percentage on the `Target allocation` card read the same split, so the two can never disagree.

**Also seen as:** idle cash, uninvested capital, effective exposure (capital invested, shown as a KPI on Positions)

## How are Cash % and capital invested calculated?

Both come from one sum: add up what every target position is meant to be worth, express it as a share of your capital, and whatever is missing is cash.

$$
\text{capital invested} = \sum_i \frac{\text{target value}_i}{\text{capital}} \times 100
\qquad
\text{Cash} = 100 - \text{capital invested}
$$

where $\text{target value}_i$ is holding *i*'s [target notional](/glossary/target-notional) in your [base currency](/glossary/base-currency), capital is the amount entered on the Positions view, and both results are percentages.

Note which figure that sum uses: the **target** value, before each position is rounded to whole shares. The extra sliver left over by rounding is measured separately, by [target vs deployed](/glossary/target-vs-deployed) and [accuracy](/glossary/accuracy) — it is not part of Cash %.

## What is effective exposure?

Effective exposure is the Positions page's own name for capital invested: the `Effective exposure` KPI at the top of the page states the same percentage as `capital invested` on the `Target allocation` card — Σ of the target positions' notional value, as a percentage of capital. It is **unclamped**: it reads above 100% exactly when [leverage](/glossary/leverage) or an [invested portion](/glossary/invested-portion) above 1.00× pushes a strategy past its capital, and Cash % goes negative for the same reason (see [why is my cash negative?](#why-is-my-cash-negative) below).

## Why do the allocation weights and the Cash % seem to disagree?

Because the two are normalised against different totals, and that is the single most confusing thing on the page.

- **Shares of a strategy's own slice.** A strategy's allocation weights divide up whatever that strategy was given. They add to 100% of its slice no matter how much of the slice it actually deploys.
- **Shares of your whole capital.** Cash %, capital invested, and every tile in the [target allocation treemap](/glossary/target-allocation-treemap) are expressed against the capital you entered, so cash shows up as a visible remainder.

So a strategy whose asset weights read 60/40 can still leave a quarter of its slice in cash: the 60/40 describes how the *invested* part is divided, not how much is invested. Read the weights when you want the mix; read Cash % when you want to know how much of the money is at work. For the same split across a whole [backtest](/glossary/backtest) rather than at one date, see the [capital chart](/glossary/capital-chart).

## What leaves capital in cash?

Two settings put capital in cash rather than into positions, and they stack:

- **Leverage below 1.** [Leverage](/glossary/leverage) is a multiplier on position sizes — `1.00 = no leverage`, with a range of `0.00 – 3.00` and presets from `Cash only` to `Max`. At `0.50` a strategy targets half the money it was allocated and the other half sits idle. This is the case that surprises people, because the asset weights still read as a full 100% split of the invested part.
- **A deliberate cash reserve.** A [Combined](/glossary/combined)'s [Invested portion](/glossary/invested-portion) setting — `Share of capital this profile deploys` — holds back a slice on purpose.

Leverage above `1.00` works the other way: target positions add up to more than your capital, and Cash % goes **negative** rather than to zero — see [why is my cash negative?](#why-is-my-cash-negative) below.

## Why is my cash negative?

Cash % (and the Cash amount) goes negative when the target positions add up to more than your capital: the difference is borrowed, and Fincanva calls it margin debt. Two settings can push a strategy or Combined there, and they work the same way in reverse of the two above:

- **A single strategy's [Leverage](/glossary/leverage) above 1.00×.** At 1.50× a strategy targets 150% of its capital; 50% is borrowed and Cash % reads −50%.
- **A Combined's [Invested portion](/glossary/invested-portion) above 100%.** The same borrowing happens at the [Combined level](/glossary/combined-level) — see invested portion's own worked example.

On the Positions page, negative cash relabels the `Cash` KPI to `Cash · margin debt` and switches its tone to negative — the figure itself is never clamped to zero, it reads the actual debt. The `Target allocation` card's exposure bar draws the same debt as a segment to the left of zero, captioned `Debt {amount} · {pct}`, with the positions laid out to the right of it; an unlevered book draws the same axis with no debt segment at all. Margin debt is financed the same way leverage is — only when the **Costs & interests** [simulation assumption](/glossary/simulation-assumptions) is on — see [what leverage costs](/glossary/leverage#what-does-leverage-cost).

## How does Fincanva handle it?

- The Positions view's tray states capital invested as the `Effective exposure` KPI (a percentage) and cash as the `Cash` KPI (a money amount, `Cash · margin debt` and negative-toned once it goes below zero). The `Target allocation` card states the same split again: capital invested as its large percentage, captioned `capital invested`, plus a muted `Cash` tile inside the treemap and — only once the book is levered — the signed exposure bar's `Debt` and `Positions` segments (see [why is my cash negative?](#why-is-my-cash-negative) above).
- All of these read for the [rebalance](/glossary/rebalance) date selected on the page and the capital entered there — change either and every figure recomputes.
- Cash is capital the plan does not deploy, not a holding you can size or a position you can see in the table.
- If the strategy's last run reads **Needs re-run**, these figures come from that older run; the Portfolios page lists such a portfolio under [Needs attention](/docs/portfolio-holdings/keep-your-live-book-in-order#which-portfolios-appear-under-needs-attention).
- Nothing is traded. This is the split of a paper portfolio Fincanva monitors, never an instruction to move money (see [Portfolio](/glossary/portfolio)).

## What does it look like in practice?

A portfolio shows `92%` capital invested with `Cash 8%`, on 100,000 of capital: 92,000 is targeted by positions and 8,000 is not. The cause is the strategy's Leverage setting of `0.92` — it deliberately targets 92% of what it was given.

Now decode the allocation beside it. The strategy's four holdings carry weights of 40 / 30 / 20 / 10 within its own slice, so their target values are 36,800 / 27,600 / 18,400 / 9,200 — 40% of 92,000, and so on. The treemap tiles read `36.8%`, `27.6%`, `18.4%`, `9.2%` and a muted `Cash 8%`, because tiles are shares of your capital and must total 100%. Both readings are correct at the same time: 40% of the strategy's slice is 36.8% of your capital. Set Leverage to `1.00` and Cash drops to 0% while the 40 / 30 / 20 / 10 mix does not change at all.

*These are the split of a paper target portfolio. Neither figure is a recommended amount to hold in cash or to put to work, and Fincanva does not tell you what leverage or cash reserve to set.*

Fincanva is for education and illustration only. It is not personalised financial advice, and past or simulated results do not predict future ones. [Read the Terms Addendum](https://fincanva.com/terms/addendum#section-3)