---
title: "Simulation engine"
description: "The simulation engine is the service that runs your backtests; a status indicator — healthy, updating data, or unavailable — signals how fresh results are."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/simulation-engine"
last_updated: "2026-10-06"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/simulation-engine.md"
---

# Simulation engine

The simulation engine is the computation service that runs your backtests — it replays each [strategy](/glossary/strategy) over historical data and returns the [equity curve](/glossary/equity-curve) and metrics you see. A small status indicator reports its current state, which signals how fresh your results are.

**Also seen as:** backtesting engine, compute engine

While the engine is refreshing market data, newly requested results may lag until the refresh finishes.

## How does Fincanva handle it?

- The status indicator shows three states, worded in the app as "Engine healthy", "Engine updating data", and "Engine unavailable".
- "Engine healthy" means backtests run normally and results reflect the latest available market close.
- "Engine updating data" means new market data is loading; existing results stay usable, but the very latest figures may not be in until the refresh completes.
- "Engine unavailable" means the engine cannot be reached right now, so new backtests and refreshes wait until it returns — already-computed results still display.
- **This indicator is about the engine; it is not a strategy's status.** Your strategies keep their own [run status](/glossary/run-status), which always describes the strategy and never Fincanva — no strategy ever reads "unavailable" because the engine could not be reached.

## What does it look like in practice?

You open a strategy and the indicator reads "Engine updating data". Your existing results still show, but a run you request now may take longer or reflect data from just before the refresh. You wait a few minutes; the indicator returns to "Engine healthy", you run the [backtest](/glossary/backtest) again, and the results now include the most recent market close.

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)