---
title: "Factor roster"
description: "The factor roster is Fincanva's fixed set of 14 reference market series — equity styles, bonds, real assets and volatility — a strategy can be compared to."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/factor-roster"
last_updated: "2026-10-06"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/factor-roster.md"
---

# Factor roster

The factor roster is the fixed set of 14 reference market series a [strategy](/glossary/strategy)'s returns can be compared against: the broad equity market, size and style tilts, government and corporate bonds, gold, real estate and volatility indices. A factor is not an investment or a [benchmark](/glossary/benchmark) you are scored against; it answers *what has this strategy actually behaved like?*

**Also seen as:** factors, reference factors, factor set

## How does Fincanva handle it?

A [Combined](/glossary/combined)'s analysis includes a correlations page whose second table sets each strategy, and the Combined itself, against six of the fourteen factors — Market (S&P 500), 10y Treasury, Investment Grade Corporates, Gold, Real Estate (REIT) and VIX — the ones that disagree with each other. The other eight largely repeat one of the six over a portfolio: the size and style factors move closely with Market, the 3m T-Bill is cash-like and sits near zero against everything, and MOVE and the VIX 1M-3M Spread are second-order volatility gauges beside the VIX.

The table reports two readings of each pair — the correlation, and the [adjusted beta](/glossary/adjusted-beta) where one can be read — and is scoped by the same period selector as the [correlation matrix](/glossary/correlation-matrix) beside it, whose page documents the page's shape and the [plan level](/glossary/plan-level) that includes it. A strategy that correlates strongly with Gold has behaved like a gold position over the period, whatever its tickers and rules — a question its [instrument](/glossary/instrument) list often answers badly.

## Which factors are in the roster?

All 14 factors are active, so any of them can appear in a comparison.

| Factor | What it stands for |
|---|---|
| Market (S&P 500) | the broad US large-cap equity market |
| Small Cap | smaller-company US equity |
| Mid Cap | mid-sized-company US equity |
| Large Cap | large-company US equity |
| Value | the value style tilt |
| Growth | the growth style tilt |
| 10y Treasury | ten-year US government bonds |
| 3m T-Bill | three-month US government bills, the cash-like short end |
| Investment Grade Corporates | investment-grade corporate bonds |
| Gold | gold |
| Real Estate (REIT) | listed real estate |
| VIX | implied volatility of S&P 500 options — the "fear index" |
| VIX 1M-3M Spread | the gap between one-month and three-month implied volatility: how front-loaded market stress is |
| MOVE | implied volatility of US Treasury options — the bond-market VIX |

The series are built from market data supplied by multiple established data providers; Fincanva does not publish which instrument or series stands behind each factor. Like the [special data series](/glossary/special-data-series), factors are reference series a strategy cannot hold. **Market (S&P 500)** and **Large Cap** overlap heavily, because the S&P 500 is predominantly large-cap: read them as closely related, not independent.

## What does a factor correlation tell me?

How closely a strategy's period-to-period returns tracked the factor's, from −1 to +1 — the scale a [correlation matrix](/glossary/correlation-matrix) reports pair by pair. A +0.7 with Gold means the strategy tended to rise when gold rose and fall when it fell — worth knowing even if it holds no gold, because what it holds responds to the same forces. Near 0, the two moved largely unrelated; −0.6, it tended to move opposite to gold.

Three limits keep that reading honest. Correlation is about *direction, not size*: a +0.9 with the Market says the strategy moved with the market almost every period, not by how much — that is what [beta](/glossary/beta) and [adjusted beta](/glossary/adjusted-beta) measure. Correlation is not causation: a strategy can correlate with Gold because it holds miners, because it reacts to the same interest-rate news, or by coincidence over a short window. And a correlation is only as stable as its period, which is why a [rolling correlation](/glossary/rolling-correlation) says more than a single figure.

Fincanva does not tell you which factor exposures to hold or avoid — see [Is this financial advice?](/docs/investing-theory/is-this-financial-advice).

## Why do the volatility factors read differently?

The three volatility factors — VIX, the VIX 1M-3M spread, and MOVE — are index *levels* rather than prices, so a comparison against them reads changes in the level rather than percentage returns. A strategy whose returns correlate negatively with changes in VIX tended to lose ground when market fear rose, which is the ordinary behavior of a long risk position. The other eleven factors are price-like series compared on returns in the normal way. It is also why the comparison table shows no [beta](/glossary/beta) against a volatility factor: a beta measured on a change in a level has no unit anybody can read, so those cells stay empty while the correlation beside them is still reported.

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)