---
title: "Combined weighting"
description: "Combined weighting is how a Combined splits capital across the strategies inside it — a layer above each strategy's own instrument weighting."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/combined-weighting"
last_updated: "2026-10-06"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/combined-weighting.md"
---

# Combined weighting

Combined weighting is how a [Combined](/glossary/combined) splits its capital across the strategies inside it — a layer of allocation that sits above, and is independent of, how each of those strategies weights its own instruments. The editor titles it **Combined allocation** and describes it as "How capital is split across strategies".

**Also seen as:** Combined allocation, strategy-level allocation, multi-strategy weighting

## How does Fincanva handle it?

- The Combined's default method is [**Equal weights**](/glossary/equal-weights): capital split evenly across the member strategies.
- Every weight you type across a Combined — a Fixed weights weight, a Static weight or a rotation weight — accepts any number from 0 to 999, decimals included. A negative is not accepted: a Combined cannot be short one of its own strategies.
- If the weights invest nothing — every Fixed weights weight at 0 or, under Ranking-based, every static weight of a [strategy](/glossary/strategy) that does not rotate and every rotation weight at 0 — the allocation still saves, the totals line reads "Invests nothing" in place of a number, and the yellow "invests nothing" warning is raised as it is for a single strategy. It clears as soon as any [member strategy](/glossary/strategy-in-a-combined) in use gets a non-zero weight.
- Weighting belongs to the allocation profile, so a Combined with a Risk-Off allocation can weight its strategies one way in Risk-On and another way in Risk-Off.
- How the two layers are combined into the final positions is part of the engine and is not published; what is documented is that both layers apply and neither overrides the other.

## What are the two independent weighting layers?

A Combined applies two allocation layers and never merges them into one. The Combined layer decides what share of capital each member strategy receives. Inside each member strategy, that strategy's own [allocation method](/glossary/allocation-and-allocation-method) then decides how its share is spread across instruments. The layers do not interact: a member strategy keeps exactly the same internal weighting whether the Combined hands it 10% of capital or 40%, and changing a member's internal method leaves the Combined's split untouched.

## Which weighting schemes can a Combined use?

Every [allocation method](/glossary/allocation-and-allocation-method) marked for a Combined: Equal weights, Fixed weights, [Ranking-based](/glossary/ranking-based), [Inverse volatility](/glossary/inverse-volatility), [Risk parity](/glossary/risk-parity), [MPT (Markowitz)](/glossary/mpt-markowitz), [Max diversification](/glossary/max-diversification), [Min MAD](/glossary/min-mad), [Min CVaR and Scenario CVaR](/glossary/min-cvar), [Conditional drawdown at risk](/glossary/conditional-drawdown-at-risk), [Entropic value at risk](/glossary/entropic-value-at-risk), [Robust worst case](/glossary/robust-worst-case) and [Stochastic programming](/glossary/stochastic-programming). Not offered here: [Floating](/glossary/floating), [Market cap](/glossary/market-cap), [Min correlation](/glossary/min-correlation), [Mimicking](/glossary/mimicking) and [Beta neutral](/glossary/beta-neutral), which weight instruments rather than strategies, and the three group-based methods — [Hierarchical risk parity](/glossary/hierarchical-risk-parity), [Hierarchical equal risk contribution](/glossary/hierarchical-equal-risk-contribution) and [Nested clustered optimization](/glossary/nested-clustered-optimization).

Two of them produce the schemes people usually mean by "combined weighting":

- [**Fixed weights**](/glossary/fixed-weights) — you set a weight per strategy in the Strategies table and it stays there, whatever the strategies do.
- **Ranking-based** — the member strategies are ranked each period and paid by rank position, with fixed exceptions you nominate. Its ranking metric defaults to **Price Change**, from four: [Price Change](/glossary/percent-change), [Average Momentum](/glossary/average-momentum), [Volatility](/glossary/volatility) and [Sharpe ratio](/glossary/sharpe-ratio). **P/E Ratio is not available at this level**; it exists only inside a single strategy.

## What are strategy roles, static weight and rank weight?

Under Ranking-based, every member strategy takes one of two roles, set per strategy in the Strategies table:

- **static** — **Rotate** is off. The strategy is held every period at the fixed **Static weight** you gave it, whatever its rank. A newly added strategy starts static with a weight of 1.
- **rotating** — **Rotate** is on. The strategy joins the ranking pool, and its weight comes from where it ranks that period.

The editor summarises the split under **Strategy roles** as "`{rotating}` rotating · `{staticCount}` static", noting "Rotate and static weights are configured per strategy". Switching Rotate on and back off keeps the Static weight you typed: while a strategy rotates it is simply not used — nor checked against the 0 to 999 range, so a value you cannot see never stops a save.

The rotating strategies share one **Rotation weights** curve — "Relative weight given to each rotating rank, top to bottom — any number from 0 to 999, decimals allowed." — labelled Rank 1, Rank 2 and so on, normalised to 100% like the rank-tier weights inside a strategy. There is one slot per rotating strategy, and a newly opened slot starts at 1. A rotating strategy's rank weight is whichever slot matches its rank that period: the slots stay put while the strategies move between them.

## What does it look like in practice?

A Combined holds three strategies — A, B and C — and rebalances monthly.

Under **Equal weights**, each receives a third of capital every period. Under **Fixed weights**, you type 50, 30 and 20, and those shares hold whatever the three strategies do. Under **Ranking-based**, you mark A as static with a **Static weight** of 20 and switch **Rotate** on for B and C. That leaves two rotation slots: you give Rank 1 a weight of 60 and Rank 2 a weight of 20. The raw total is 100, so A is held at 20% every period, whichever of B and C ranks higher on the chosen metric takes 60%, and the other takes 20%. Next month the ranking flips: B and C swap slots, their weights swap with them, and A's 20% does not move.

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)