A filter is one screening rule inside a screener — a metric, a comparison mode, and the value or values it is tested against. Each filter is a condition an instrument passes or fails, and because filters combine with AND, an instrument has to pass every filter to become a match.
Also seen as: screening rule, screening criterion
You add filters from the Add a filter panel and edit each one in place.
How does Fincanva handle it?
- Filters are ANDed, never ORed, so adding one can only lower the match count or leave it unchanged; removing or loosening one can only raise it.
- Each filter applies to the asset types it is defined for. Switching asset type hides the universe filters that no longer apply, and switching back restores them.
- A filter's Advanced inputs carry the unit the filter counts in — Months Ago, Reports Ago, Quarters, Days, Bars, or Std Devs. You enter the number; the filter fixes the unit.
- Deleting a filter changes only the screener you are editing; the filter stays in the catalogue for every other screener.
What is a filter made of?
Three parts, plus an optional fourth. The metric is what the filter reads — Market Cap, P/E, a moving average. The comparison mode is the relation it applies: vs Value, Between, vs Lagged Self, Highest / Lowest, or vs Aggregate (see comparison modes). The value is what the metric is tested against — one number, a range, a lag, or a rank, depending on the mode. Optionally the Advanced panel shifts or scales the reading with Lag, Period, and Multiplier (see lag, period, and multiplier). While you edit, a plain-language restatement appears under "You're saying", so you can read the rule back as a sentence before applying it.
Where do filters come from?
Filters come from a catalogue Fincanva maintains, grouped by category in the Add a filter panel. Today that catalogue holds 118 filters — 84 Fundamental, 20 Technical, and 14 Market & Sector — alongside the Universe filters that decide which instruments are eligible in the first place (see universe). Two categories are visible but not yet available: Macro is marked "Coming soon", and custom filters are "post-V1". Not every filter supports every comparison mode, and the editor offers only the relations the chosen filter supports.
What does it look like in practice?
Take P/E < 15. The metric is P/E, the comparison mode is vs Value, the operator is <, and the value is 15 — read back under "You're saying" as "P/E is less than 15". An instrument passes when its latest P/E reading sits below 15. Switch the same filter to Between and the single value becomes a low–high pair, P/E between 10 and 20. Switch it to Highest / Lowest and the value becomes a rank rather than a threshold, keeping only the top or bottom N. The metric never moved — only the relation, and what that relation needs from you.