---
title: "Live book"
description: "The live book is the Portfolios page listing every strategy you follow live, with a summary panel: median return, best, weakest, positives and what needs you."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/live-book"
last_updated: "2026-10-06"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/live-book.md"
---

# Live book

The live book is the Portfolios page that lists every [strategy](/glossary/strategy) you follow live, with a book summary panel that reads the whole book at a glance — the median return, the best and weakest performers, how many portfolios are positive — and then lists what needs you. It is the one screen where you judge your live-followed strategies together.

**Also seen as:** Portfolios

Each row is one live-followed [portfolio](/glossary/portfolio); the panel opens whenever no row is selected and reads the return window you pick.

## How does Fincanva handle it?

- The panel summarises only strategies you have marked Live; a strategy you have merely backtested but not followed does not appear in the book.
- The three figures read the return window you select (1M, YTD or 1Y) — each is a summary across portfolios, never a single portfolio's figure.
- A portfolio with no computed return for the selected window is left out of that window altogether: it is not counted in the median, in the positive count or in the total after `of`.
- A portfolio counts as positive only if its return is above zero; a return of exactly zero is neither positive nor negative.
- Before any returns exist the median section shows an empty state (`No returns computed yet`) rather than a zero.

## What does the book summary panel show?

The book summary panel stacks its sections in a fixed order, from the book's returns down to what needs you. Select a row and the panel gives way to that portfolio's own details; with no row selected it shows the book.

1. **Median return** — the middle portfolio's return, so half your book did better and half did worse, shown large. A switch beside the title picks the window: **1M**, **YTD** or **1Y**, with **YTD** selected when the page opens. Beside the figure, a count reads how many portfolios are positive, as `{n} of {total} positive portfolios`.
2. **Best** and **Weakest** — the portfolio with the highest and the lowest return in that window, each with its name and its signed return. Selecting a name opens that portfolio's Positions view.
3. **Live used** — how many live slots the account holds: `{held} / {allowed}` when the plan has a ceiling, the number held alone when it has none. It is left out on a plan whose live allowance is zero.

## What does the To do section list?

**To do**, the panel's last section, lists what needs you, in three groups: **Needs attention** (portfolios whose run is not up to date, each with its reason) and **Controls** (portfolios whose run is fine but that have an open strategy control) appear only when they have something to list; **Next rebalances** (the portfolios [rebalancing](/glossary/rebalance) soonest, with the days left) is always there and reads `No upcoming rebalances` when none is due. With nothing needing attention and no rebalance due, the section opens with `Nothing needs you right now`. How to clear each group is covered in [Keep your live book in order](/docs/portfolio-holdings/keep-your-live-book-in-order).

## What does the return window change, and why the median?

The window switch changes only the first two sections: median, the positive count, Best and Weakest all recompute for the window, while **To do** does not depend on it. The three windows are the [return windows](/glossary/return-windows) of the same names; the panel offers no **MTD**.

The median is used, not the average, because one runaway winner or loser cannot drag it — it always describes a typical portfolio in the book rather than an outlier. With an even number of portfolios it is the average of the two middle ones.

## What does it look like in practice?

You follow five strategies live, and for the 1Y window their returns are −4%, +2%, +6%, +9%, and +21%. With **1Y** selected, **Median return** shows +6% — the middle of the five, with two portfolios above and two below — so a single +21% outlier does not flatter the headline the way an average would (the average here would be +6.8%). The count reads `4 of 5 positive portfolios`, **Best** names the +21% portfolio and **Weakest** names the −4% one. Switch to **1M** and every figure recomputes from each portfolio's one-month return instead. If a sixth live strategy has no 1Y return computed yet, it stays out of the 1Y view — the count still reads `of 5` — and is counted as soon as a return exists for the window you select.

*The median, best, and weakest figures describe what the strategies you follow have already returned, not what they will return, and no ranking in the panel is a recommendation to add to, trim, or drop a portfolio.*

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)