Synaptic Research obviously responds faster if there are fewer funds which it needs to display in the grid. Therefore, wherever possible, it’s best to set up filtering, using the Features and Stats tabs, before you add funds to the grid using the Sectors tab. Let’s say that you are going to research all unit trusts in the UK All Companies sector, and you are only interested in funds with positive alpha, whose average quartile ranking is 2.5 or better, and which have been around for at least five years.It’s more efficient to set up this filtering first (using the Stats tab as illustrated by the screenshot below) and then add the sectors using the Sectors tab, rather than selecting the sectors first and then filtering the grid down. |
Fund features
The Features tab of fund research includes a number of items which are quick ways of filtering out funds based on minimum performance requirement. The Top Crown rating field eliminates contracts unless they are top-ranked (i.e. 5 Crowns) by FE; the quartile features eliminate funds unless they have been top-quartile performers over the chosen period. All of these are simply quick ways of imposing conditions which can also be set via the Stats tab. The first screenshot below shows filtering on the features for the FE Crown rating, and on quartile ranking over 3 years. The second screenshot shows the equivalent filtering on the Stats tab. The fields on the Stats tab are obviously more flexible – for example, you can say that you want a quartile ranking of 2 or better, rather than just top-quartile performers. The fields on the Features tab are simply intended for convenience and speed. |
Finding funds within a grid.
If you are looking at a grid which contains lots of funds (e.g. hundreds of funds) and you want to find a specific fund within the grid, you can simply use the find functionality built into your web browser. Simply press Ctrl+F. |
