---
title: "Comparison modes"
description: "Comparison modes are the ways a screener filter tests a metric: vs Value, Between, vs Lagged Self, Highest / Lowest, or vs Aggregate against peers."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/comparison-modes"
last_updated: "2026-09-24"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/comparison-modes.md"
---

# Comparison modes

Comparison modes are the ways a [screener](/glossary/screener) filter can test an [instrument](/glossary/instrument)'s metric — what the reading is measured *against*. The choices are **vs Value** (against a fixed number), **Between** (inside a range), **vs Lagged Self** (against the metric's own earlier reading), **Highest / Lowest** (a rank within the results), and **vs Aggregate** (against a market or sector figure, covered on its own page). Each mode changes what the filter's threshold means, not which metric it reads — the symbol that does the testing inside a mode is a separate choice, covered in [standard operators](/glossary/standard-operators).

**Also seen as:** filter relation

## How each comparison mode works

- **vs Value** — passes instruments whose metric sits on the chosen side of one fixed number, for example `P/E < 15`.
- **Between** — passes instruments whose metric falls inside a low–high range, for example `P/E between 10 and 20`.
- **vs Lagged Self** — compares the metric to its own value at an earlier point you set (a [lag](/glossary/lag-period-and-multiplier)), so you screen on change rather than level.
- **Highest / Lowest** — ranks instruments on the metric and keeps only the top or bottom N; the pool it ranks is whatever is still passing at that point, so its position in the strip is part of the rule (see [sequential filtering and Top-N ranking](/glossary/sequential-filtering-and-top-n-ranking)).
- **vs Aggregate** — compares the metric to a market or sector statistic such as the median; see [aggregate comparisons](/glossary/aggregate-comparisons).

A handful of filters replace these modes entirely with pattern tests — crossings and valuation bands — which are [special relations](/glossary/special-relations) rather than comparison modes.

## How does Fincanva handle it?

- The mode is chosen per filter in the filter editor; the resolved sentence under **You're saying** restates it in plain language.
- Not every mode is available for every filter — the editor shows only the relations that filter supports.
- Switching mode keeps the metric but changes the inputs: a single value, a range, a lag, a rank, or a scope plus a statistic.

## What does it look like in practice?

Take a Price/Earnings filter. In **vs Value** mode you set `P/E < 15`, so any instrument trading below 15× earnings passes. Switch the same filter to **vs Lagged Self** and set the lag to 12 months: now it compares each instrument's current P/E to its own P/E a year earlier, passing those whose P/E has fallen — a completely different screen built from the same metric.

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)