Updated Articles

  1. Where can I find Special offers?

    A list of all current special offers is available from the   Resource Centre. (If your firm has paid for access to the special offer data,   but not the Resource Centre, then the link to the special offers page is   instead displayed on the men...
  2. Can I sort the grid in the filtering screen?

    By default, the grid of contracts is sorted by company name and then by contract name. The field on which the grid is currently sorted is highlighted in a darker blue. You can sort the grid on a different column simply by clicking on the column...
  3. How is the returns each month graph calculated?

    The graph of returns each month simply shows the fund's percentage gain/loss each month as a series of columns. The spikiness of the graph is obviously one indicator of volatility.   You can choose to include the sector average or a stock...
  4. Can I research new and existing business?

    Synaptic has over fifteen years of experience of providing tools to financial advisers which enable them to research new business quickly and efficiently, and to document their recommendations. Synaptic Research continues to model “best practice” r...
  5. Can I record notes on research?

    You can record notes about your research to remind you of key points, or to act as a to-do list. The note entry form is displayed as an extra tab above the list of fields, and is illustrated by the first screenshot below. You simply ente...
  6. Can I manually exclude contracts?

    As well as (or instead of) filtering the grid of contracts, you can also manually select which contracts to include. This is particularly useful for comparing a specific set of contracts rather than the whole of market – e.g. product provider compet...
  7. How do you calculate the Stochastic projection graphs?

    The stochastic projection graphs use a fund’s historic returns to estimate the probability of future returns. Synaptic Research runs 10,000 Monte Carlo projections per fund and then shows every fifth percentile return between the 5 th and 95 th...
  8. Can I remove all filters on the filtering screen?

    You can remove all the filters you have put in place, in one go, by clicking on the Clear all filters button at the bottom of the list of fields. This simply removes the filtering and refreshes the screen. However, it does not remove any filteri...
  9. How are the ranking graphs calculated?

    Once you have defined your ranking scheme, and clicked on Calculate, the system displays the resulting league table as illustrated by the screenshot below. This consists of a tab showing the overall scores for each contract, and then a separate tab...
  10. How are funds ranked?

    Fund research can be ranked in the same way as product research: you click on the Ranking link in the menu bar of the grid page, and then define a ranking scheme. This is effectively a sophisticated “weighted sort”: you can build league tabl...