---
title: "Universe"
description: "A universe is the set of instruments a screener or strategy can draw from; 'All' is the whole market, narrowed by filters until only what you want remains."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/universe"
last_updated: "2026-10-06"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/universe.md"
---

# Universe

A universe is the set of instruments a [screener](/glossary/screener) or [strategy](/glossary/strategy) is allowed to draw from. "All" means the whole market; you narrow it with [filters](/glossary/filter) — on country, exchange, index, sector, [asset type](/glossary/asset-type) and asset subtype — until only the instruments you want remain. Anything outside it can never be selected.

**Also seen as:** investable assets

Everything a strategy screens, ranks, or buys comes from this universe: the universe is the boundary, and the filters inside a screener then choose from within it.

The filters that narrow a universe were previously surfaced under the label "Restrictions"; that name is retired.

## How does Fincanva handle it?

A strategy's Asset selection card lists its basket: each instrument with its ticker, its name and its asset type.

- "All" is the widest universe — the whole searchable market, including instruments that have since [delisted](/glossary/delisted), so a [backtest](/glossary/backtest) is not limited to today's survivors.
- Each filter you add (country, exchange, index, sector, asset type, asset subtype) shrinks the universe, and combining filters narrows it further.
- A screener and its strategy draw only from the resulting universe; changing the universe changes what can be selected and can change results.
- A strategy's universe is what it picked, or, with nothing picked, its entry screener's universe. With nothing picked and no entry screener it has no universe at all: the instrument list reads **No instruments**, it buys nothing, and its backtest does not start — see [Choosing the instruments your strategy holds](/docs/strategies/choosing-the-instruments-your-strategy-holds#what-does-the-card-show-when-nothing-is-picked).

## What does it look like in practice?

You start from "All" — roughly the whole catalogue of tradable [instruments](/glossary/instrument), tens of thousands of them. You add a country filter for the United States and an asset-type filter for stocks. The universe shrinks to US-listed stocks only. From then on the screener ranks, and the strategy buys, solely within that reduced set — a non-US stock or an ETP can no longer appear, however well it would have scored.

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)