Quant trading interviews run to a common shape across firms: 5 stages, with the online assessment usually the first real elimination round and the technical rounds weighted heavily toward probability and expected value. Formats vary between firms, but what is being tested rarely does.
This guide walks through each stage, what to expect in it, and how to prepare, with the practice for each stage linked as it comes up.
- 1CV and application screening. Your resume and any cover letter, reviewed for relevant skills and genuine motivation.
- 2Online assessments. Timed tests of mental arithmetic, sequences and logic. Usually the first elimination round.
- 3HR interview. A 20 to 30 minute call on motivation, market awareness and fit, with occasional light maths.
- 4Technical interviews. One or more rounds with traders: brainteasers, probability, and trading scenarios under pressure.
- 5Final round. A Superday of back-to-back interviews, often with a case study or trading simulation and a senior fit conversation.
Stage 1: CV and application screening
The process opens with your resume, often with a cover letter. Recruiters screen quickly, filtering for a strong academic record, evidence of quantitative ability, and real interest in trading. Some firms review by hand rather than by algorithm: Jane Street reads applications with humans and usually replies within about a week.
How to prepare
- Tailor your resume. Lead with the experiences that show analytical ability and interest in markets: quant projects, trading or finance societies, programming work, maths competitions, poker or chess. Make the relevant skills easy to find rather than buried.
- Write a specific cover letter if one is asked for. Say what drew you to trading and what about this firm in particular appeals. Generic enthusiasm reads as generic.
- Research the firm before applying. Market maker or proprietary trader, which products, which markets, what the culture is. Our firm practice pages collect the process and the tools for each firm we cover.
- Polish and cut. These firms receive thousands of applications. One page, no errors, cleanly formatted, and every short answer sincere.
Stage 2: Online assessments
Nearly every quant trading firm runs one or more timed online assessments early on. They test quantitative skill and composure under time pressure, and they are usually where most of the field is cut.
| Test type | Typical format | Practise it |
|---|---|---|
| Mental arithmetic | Fast calculation with no calculator. Flow Traders runs 80 questions in 8 minutes; other firms use variants such as 30 in 5. Expect operations, percentages, ratios and currency conversions | Math Trainer, and the mental arithmetic guide |
| Pattern and sequence recognition | Identify the next item in a series, around 24 questions in 12 minutes, using numbers, letters or shapes | Sequence Trainer, and mastering sequence problems |
| Probability and logic | Word problems and brainteasers: expected value, simple equations, classic riddles. One firm's quiz runs about 37 questions in 15 minutes | Probability brainteasers |
| Cognitive games | Gamified batteries measuring memory, reaction and strategic thinking. IMC's NeurOlympics runs about 45 minutes | Pincode and Task Switch |
| Programming | Occasional, and role-dependent. Akuna Capital includes a HackerRank test of a couple of algorithmic problems | Read the job description: if coding is listed, expect it |
For example, SIG's tests lean toward solving linear systems and path-finding puzzles rather than raw speed, so the mix genuinely differs by firm. Check the guide for the firm you are sitting.
The online assessment is usually the first elimination round, and at many firms failing it locks you out of reapplying for a period. It is the stage where preparation converts most directly into passing, and the one candidates most often walk into cold.
How to prepare
- Drill mental arithmetic daily. Speed comes only from repetition. Work to 30 to 60 seconds per question, then below it. If fractions and decimals slow you down, our fractions to decimals trainer and its step-by-step guide target exactly that.
- Build a pattern library. The more sequence types you have seen, numeric, letter-shift, spatial, the faster you recognise the next one under exam conditions.
- Learn the platform, not just the maths. Saville, Wonderlic, Mettl and HackerRank all behave differently. IMC's aptitude test uses Saville's numerical and diagrammatic reasoning, and their official prep guides are worth a pass. Knowing whether you can skip or revisit a question saves real seconds.
- Do not stall on one question. Many of these tests forbid going back and rarely penalise a wrong answer, so guess and move rather than sink 90 seconds into one item.
- Simulate the conditions. Timer running, no distractions, full length. Accuracy that survives clock pressure is a separate skill from accuracy.
Stage 3: HR interview
Usually a 20 to 30 minute phone or video call with a recruiter. It is conversational and mostly non-technical, aimed at whether you actually want to trade, whether you understand the firm, and whether you can communicate. Occasional light maths appears.
What they ask
Why trading
What draws you to the work itself: fast decisions under uncertainty, competitive and quantitative problems, a meritocratic desk. Expect it close to verbatim as "what motivates you to become a trader?"
Why this firm
"Why do you want to work at SIG?" or why IMC over its competitors. Tie your answer to something specific: SIG's game theory and poker culture, Flow Traders' ETF focus and entrepreneurial streak.
Basic market knowledge
What a market maker does, or what an ETF is. Nobody expects expertise, but they do expect you to have learned the fundamentals of what the firm trades and to know roughly what markets are doing.
Behavioural questions
A time you worked in a team, a high-pressure situation you handled, your strengths and weaknesses. They are reading teamwork, resilience and communication.
Background and fit
A walk through your resume, or whether you are a competitive person and what makes you stand out. Trading firms value competitive drive, fast learning and calm under pressure, so connect your background to those.
Light maths
Some screens drop in something like "what is 15% of 80?" or a simple probability question, purely to watch your reaction. Talk through it and stay unhurried.
How to prepare
- Research the firm properly. Business model, products traded, recent news. Specific beats enthusiastic: naming their ETF growth or their use of game theory shows you did the work.
- Prepare your story. Walk your resume and connect each part to a trading skill. Use STAR (situation, task, action, result) to keep examples tight.
- Rehearse without scripting. Practise aloud until you speak smoothly, but avoid a memorised opener. Recruiters read these guides too.
- Refresh the basics. Percentages and quick arithmetic, plus terms like strike price, volatility and hedging. If you do not know a term, say so and stay curious rather than bluffing.
- Bring real questions. One or two that show interest in the desk: how new traders are trained, how risk is handed over, what the first year looks like.
Stage 4: Technical interviews
One or more rounds with traders, by video, phone or occasionally in person, sometimes back to back. Expect fast-moving questions across brainteasers, probability and trading hypotheticals. The point is how you reason about unfamiliar problems in real time.
The topics that come up
Mental maths mid-conversation
Quickfire arithmetic dropped into the discussion: 7 × 16, then 112 × 1.1, then a percentage or ratio. If something looks ugly, say how you would approximate rather than freezing. Composure counts alongside accuracy.
Brainteasers and logic puzzles
Classic riddles and logic problems: the mislabeled jars, the light bulb switching puzzle, why manhole covers are round. Some firms lean to trick puzzles that test reasoning, and SIG is known for grid path-finding and systems of equations. The range is wide, so breadth of practice matters more than depth on any one puzzle.
Probability and expected value
The largest single theme in trading interviews. Coin flips, dice, card draws, balls from urns. Expected number of flips until the first head, probability of drawing 2 red cards from a deck, or the two-thirds of the average game. You need basic probability solid: independence, Bayes, and the distributions of simple events.
Game theory and betting games
Some firms play a game with you. Jane Street's phone rounds famously use a sports betting game, a dice game and a resource-division game; SIG builds its final stage around expected value games. Even on an unfamiliar game, the tools are the same: expected value, risk against reward, and adjusting as the rules change.
Financial maths and market basics
Call and put options, what a strike price is, how you would price a simple derivative, or what happens to a price when some piece of news lands. Flow Traders may ask how ETF pricing and arbitrage work. Depth matters less than reasoning unless you claimed the depth on your resume.
Make a market
A distinctive part of many trading interviews: they hand you a scenario and ask for a two-sided quote, on a coin toss, a sports result or an obscure event, then update the information and watch you requote. Vocalise the reasoning, because the fair value and the quote around it are the whole answer. If you have never done this aloud, read our guide to make me a market first.
Estimation
Fermi problems appear as a check on structured guessing: how many $1 bills would fill this room, how many piano tuners are in New York. They want a decomposition, not a lucky number.
Advanced maths or programming
Role-dependent, and less common for pure trading seats. Quant research and developer tracks can go into calculus, linear algebra, stochastic processes or algorithmic complexity. Read the job description.
Where to practise each of these
| Topic | Practise with |
|---|---|
| Mental arithmetic | Math Trainer |
| Brainteasers and logic | Top 50 brainteasers, reasoning puzzles |
| Probability and expected value | Probability brainteasers, cards and coins |
| Game theory and betting games | Game theory and strategic trading course, market making dice game, card game |
| Options and market basics | Option theory brainteasers |
| Make a market | Make me a market guide, market games |
| Estimation | Fermi questions, Fermi estimation game |
Our full brainteaser database is filterable by firm and category, so you can work only the questions reported at the firm you are interviewing with.
What interviewers are actually watching
They care less about the final answer than about the route to it. Expect follow-ups, hints and deliberate twists. Are you methodical, do you ask clarifying questions, and can you be challenged or stumped without losing composure? Not finishing a puzzle is survivable. Going quiet is not.
How to prepare
- Solve a lot of problems, timed. Mental arithmetic, coin, dice and card probability, basic combinatorics, and the common riddles. Breadth is what gives you tools for a problem you have not seen.
- Practise thinking out loud. Restate the problem, say what you are considering, walk through the approach. It feels unnatural at first and it is the core skill of these rounds, because it is also what lets the interviewer hand you a hint.
- Review the fundamentals. Expected value, conditional probability and Bayes, and enough game theory to recognise an equilibrium argument. Refresh anything on your resume: if you listed an options course, know delta and vega.
- Stay in the problem. Interviewers often push until you struggle. If you are stuck, say which part is hard, try a smaller case, or test a few numbers. Handling difficulty with some grace counts nearly as much as the solution.
- Be coachable. Take the hint, incorporate the correction, treat it as a discussion. Trading rewards fast iteration and they are testing for it here.
- Know when to approximate. For 17 × 93, say you are estimating and do 17 × 100 minus 17 × 7. Nobody faults a stated approximation when exact arithmetic is not the point.
- Keep half an eye on markets. A few firms ask what you make of a current move. You need awareness, not a thesis.
Stage 5: The final round, or Superday
Several interviews back to back, onsite or over Zoom, from a couple of hours up to a full day and sometimes split into stations. It revisits the technical material at greater depth, adds a case study or simulation, and puts your fit in front of senior people.
What the day contains
Advanced technical rounds
More than one grilling, by different interviewers: senior traders, researchers, managers. Deeper probability, more complex hypotheticals, and expected value games with cards, dice and coins under varying rules are a staple. Part of what is being tested is whether your reasoning holds up when you are tired at 3pm as well as fresh at 9am.
Case study or trading simulation
Flow Traders runs an ETF trading case study: data, a pricing or arbitrage scenario, a strategy, sometimes a presentation. IMC runs a trading game station where you quote markets on events. Structure your analysis before you speak, and lead with the high-level approach before the detail.
Fit interview with senior staff
Why trading and why this firm, again and deeper, plus your weaknesses, what your edge would be against other traders, and scenarios like how you would handle a large loss. Trading floors select for people who are sharp and humble at the same time, and senior interviewers are alert to overconfidence.
Group and social elements
A lunch or coffee with current traders, whose impressions get fed back. Informal is not unevaluated. Occasionally a group exercise, where the thing being measured is collaboration rather than dominance.
Additional testing
Sometimes a short maths test re-sat onsite to confirm the earlier result, or a personality questionnaire. IMC opens its Superday with a personality assessment and then discusses the output in the HR interview. Answer these honestly, since experienced interviewers notice engineered answers.
How to prepare
- Consolidate before the day. Revisit anything that caught you out earlier in the process, because similar ground often returns. Sharpen your "why this firm" with everything you have learned since the first call.
- Rehearse the full length. Run an intense puzzle session and then answer behavioural questions cold, to practise the mental gear change. Stamina is a real constraint across a full day.
- Structure, then speak. Asking for a minute to organise is fine. Write down the key facts, outline the solution, then present it.
- Show the fit you actually have. SIG responds to a competitive gaming background, Jane Street to collaboration and curiosity. Match your emphasis to the firm rather than delivering the same answer everywhere.
- Keep your energy up. If one interview goes badly, let it go before the next, since they are usually scored separately.
Closing thoughts
Entry-level quant trading is competitive enough that preparation is the variable you control. Firms are selecting for a specific combination: quantitative sharpness, composure, fast decisions, and someone the desk wants to sit next to. Most successful candidates prepare for months rather than weeks, and almost everyone underestimates how much is needed.
Work the stages in order. Get your arithmetic and sequences past the assessment cutoff with the Math Trainer and Sequence Trainer, build probability and expected value until they are automatic in the brainteaser database, and practise quoting out loud in the market games. When you know where you are applying, go through everything we have for that firm and read its guide before each stage. If you want to go deeper on the underlying material, our reading list covers the books worth the time.
If it does not work out the first time, most firms let you reapply after a year, and plenty of traders needed more than one attempt. Note what stumped you, work it, and go back.