A SymbolsList is a named group of instruments that Fincanva's market data maintains as a single unit, so a set of tickers that belong together can be referred to by one name instead of listed one by one. The curated groups cover recurring cuts of the market — sectors, countries, currencies, industries, commodities, fixed income, real estate and a few others. A SymbolsList is a data-layer grouping rather than a control you build: the lists ship with Fincanva's market data and refresh with it.
Also seen as: symbols list, named ticker group
What is inside a SymbolsList?
A SymbolsList holds a name and its member instruments, and nothing else — no weights, no rules, no dates. Members are referenced by their permanent instrument identifier rather than by ticker symbol, so a list keeps the same membership when one of its members is renamed. Sizes vary widely: some lists hold under ten instruments, others several dozen. Not everything in the catalogue is holdable, though — some entries are reference-only series — so see Tradable and Not tradable for that distinction.
How is a SymbolsList different from a universe or an index list?
The three are separate ideas that all describe a set of instruments.
| Concept | What defines the set | Does it carry history? |
|---|---|---|
| SymbolsList | A curated group that ships with Fincanva's market data, referred to by name | No — membership is current only |
| Universe | Your own filters (country, exchange, index, sector, asset type) | No — it is resolved for the run you are setting up |
| Index list | Membership of a real market index | Yes — membership is recorded as of each historical date |
So a SymbolsList is the simplest of the three: a stable, named bundle of tickers with no history attached to the grouping itself. If you need to know who belonged to a group on a past date, that is an index list, not a SymbolsList.
How does Fincanva handle it?
- SymbolsLists ship with Fincanva's market data and refresh with it; they are not created or edited by you.
- A list stores its members by their permanent instrument identifier, so a ticker rename never drops a member.
- Membership is current, not point-in-time: a SymbolsList records the group as it stands, with no record of when a member joined or left.
- SymbolsLists are part of the data layer and are not surfaced as a pickable control in the app today. The term is documented here because docs and Learn material use it.
What does it look like in practice?
"Sectors" is one of the shipped lists: rather than naming one instrument per sector every time a sector-by-sector comparison is needed, the group is referred to by its list name and resolves to its members. If one of those members is renamed — its ticker changes while the company continues — the list still resolves to exactly the same instruments, because membership is stored by permanent instrument identifier and not by the ticker symbol that changed. A list built by hand from ticker strings would quietly lose that member instead.
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