Frequently asked questions

Proprietary trading firms, known as 'prop shops,' use their own capital to trade various financial instruments like stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies, commodities, and derivatives. Noted for their sophisticated strategies, advanced algorithms, and technological infrastructure, they are actively involved in market making, arbitrage, and various speculative activities. Unlike hedge funds and investment banks, these firms do not manage external assets or provide advisory services. Instead, they take calculated risks with their own capital, making independent trading decisions and bearing the outcomes solely for their accounts. Explore our list to understand the scale and scope of these unique entities within the financial landscape.

There are many different trading firms, each with its unique characteristics and specializations. To learn more, please visit our comprehensive list of trading firms. This list serves as an extensive resource on proprietary trading firms, offering an overview of where the different players in the sector hold operations globally.

At trading firms, there are primarily three main functions that drive their operations: Quantitative Trader, Quantitative Researcher, and Quantitative Developer (Software Engineer). Each role plays a critical part in the firm's trading strategies and success. Quantitative traders are responsible for managing and executing trades based on complex mathematical models and algorithms. Quantitative researchers develop new trading strategies and analyze market data. Quantitative developers implement the trading models and strategies into working software. Each position requires a unique set of skills and expertise, working closely to drive the firm's trading activities.

Firstly, we recommend starting your mental math practice early. Most applicants underestimate the difficulty of trading math tests and overestimate both their current ability and their ability to improve quickly. From experience we’ve learned that becoming competent enough (and more importantly, very fast) at mental math can take quite some time. Next to that, your performance on the test also strongly depends on your ability to keep your head cool during the actual test. When you’ve made a habit of practicing daily for a long period then you will in time gain the confidence required to keep your head cool when the stakes are high.

Firstly, it is incredibly important to stay calm during the test. Most tests are long and require constant focus and hence being overly stressed will negatively impact your performance. Secondly, familiarity with the test format and types of questions is very important to make sure you are not unpleasantly surprised as this can be very disruptive. Managing time is also key, if at some point you find yourself spending too much time on one specific question, move on to the next one as there is a big chance that the next one will be simpler. When posed with complicated multiple-choice questions that you do not know the answer for, try to eliminate one or more of the options to increase your odds of guessing the correct answer.

The Red Test is intended to prepare you for the Flow Traders Math Test. The Orange Test is for the Optiver Numerical Test, and so on for each specific test. Tradermath has developed multiple types of tests not just due to the varied formats and time constraints employed by trading firms but also because the nature of numerical questions differs considerably among these firms.

We currently accept the following payments methods: Credit card, Apple Pay, PayPal, SEGA bank transfers for the European Union, iDeal for The Netherlands, Bancontact for Belgium, and SOFORT for Germany. Would you like to see other payment methods? Please contact us.

For each of our tests, we have made a free test available so that you can see what our product looks and feels like. You can take the free tests as many times as you like, but the set of questions in this test is fixed. If you want to have new questions every time you take a new test, you should subscribe.

If you're a student at Imperial College London, Warwick Business School or Lehigh University, discount codes are readily available. Please reach out to your Master's program manager to obtain one. For students from other institutions, we encourage your program manager to get in touch with us for further details.