Optiver Interview Questions

245 total interview insight submissions
Interview Experience (89%)

The Interview Experience is a score from 1 star (very negative) to 5 stars (very positive) generated based on the Interview Insights at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. If you hover over the various sections of the donut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few interview insights). Simply put, as a company gets more reviews, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to its simple average and away from the average of the entire dataset.

3.6
  • Very Negative
  • Negative
  • Neutral
  • Positive
  • Very Positive
Interview Difficulty (100%)

The Interview Difficulty is a score ranging from very difficult (red) to very easy (green) generated based on the Interview Insights at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. The higher the number, the more difficult the interviews on average. If you hover over the various sections of the doughnut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few interview insights). Simply put, as a company gets more insights, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to its simple average and away from the average of the entire data set.

3.7
  • Very Easy
  • Easy
  • Average
  • Difficult
  • Very Difficult
% Interns - FT Offers (66%)

The % of Interns Getting a Full Time Offer chart is meant to provide a realistic estimate of the hiring practices of the company based on the reviews at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. If you hover over the various sections of the doughnut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few reviews). Simply put, as a company gets more reviews, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to the simple company average and away from the average of the entire data set.

43%
  • 0%
  • 10%
  • 20%
  • 30%
  • 40%
  • 50%
  • 60%
  • 70%
  • 80%
  • 90%
  • 100%

Interviews at Optiver

Filter by:
Year
Job Title
Group/Division
Location
Experience
Difficulty
Student / Prospective Monkey
Year 2025
Job Title Student / Prospective Monkey
Group/Division Portfolio Oversight
Location Chicago
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Difficult
Intern
Year 2024
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Trading
Location
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Average
Intern
Year 2024
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Quantitative Trading
Location Chicago
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Difficult
Intern
Year 2024
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Quantitative Research
Location Chicago
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Difficult
Student / Prospective Monkey
Year 2024
Job Title Student / Prospective Monkey
Group/Division Quantitative Research
Location New York
Experience
Very Positive
Difficulty
Average
Summer Associate Intern
Year 2024
Job Title Summer Associate Intern
Group/Division Prop Trading
Location Amsterdam
Experience
Negative
Difficulty
Average
Student / Prospective Monkey
Year 2024
Job Title Student / Prospective Monkey
Group/Division N/A
Location Stanford
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Difficult
Student / Prospective Monkey
Year 2024
Job Title Student / Prospective Monkey
Group/Division N/A
Location Stanford
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Difficult
Intern
Year 2024
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Quantitative Research
Location Chicago
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Difficult
Student / Prospective Monkey
Year 2024
Job Title Student / Prospective Monkey
Group/Division N/A
Location London
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Difficult

Interview Questions & Answers - Optiver Examples

Quant Developer Interview - Portfolio Oversight

Anonymous interview candidate in Chicago
Interviewed: February 2025
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
1-2 months
Application
Phone Interview
Interview
Initially they reached out to me with a HR round. Just things like why us and logistics. Then, they dived into a technical round involving designing some system. The superday was a technical followed by system design of a trading system
Interview Questions
Just a lot of networking questions. For example, tradeoffs of UDP vs TCP and when to prefer each

Trading Intern Interview - Trading

Anonymous interview candidate in
Interviewed: August 2024
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
1-2 months
Application
Phone Interview
IQ / Intelligence Test
Interview
I completed an online assessment (OA), followed by a trading interview that included a probability-based sports betting game. The OA itself tested general problem-solving and mental math skills. During the interview, I was given a solo tournament-style betting game where I placed bets on a series of outcomes across multiple rounds. For each round, I was given information about the probability of winning, and I had to decide both the outcome to bet on and how much to wager. The goal was to maximize profit while managing risk over time. The trader asked follow-up questions about my reasoning, betting strategy, and how I interpreted the given probabilities.
Interview Questions
Betting on a sports tournament in a very short time.

Trading Intern Interview - Quantitative Trading

Anonymous interview candidate in Chicago
Interviewed: September 2024
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
Interview
The OA is very long, but they won't have you continue if you fail one of the sections which is helpful. After, you may get invited to a phone interview which is a market making game.
Interview Questions
Are the odds for this bet exploitable?

Quant Researcher Interview - Quantitative Research

Anonymous interview candidate in Chicago
Interviewed: November 2024
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
1-2 months
Application
1 on 1 Interview
Presentation
Background Check
Interview
First receive a OA, and then one zoom interview about a trading game, then received a HR call, then received a technical interview. After that, I received a data project to complete in a week. Then I have the chance to give the presentation. I got rejected in this round. If I pass this round, there will be team matching.
Interview Questions
What part will you improve if you have 100 more hours to complete the data project

Quantitative Researcher Interview - Quantitative Research

Anonymous interview candidate in New York
Interviewed: November 2024
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Skills Test
IQ / Intelligence Test
Interview
Did a very long OA with mental math, sequence, basic probability, and games. First round tech with a trader for a trading game. Got a 15min HR call. Failed in the second round 1 hour tech interview with a quantitative researcher. Overall very good experience and very quick feedback. Will consider apply again in the future.
Interview Questions
Ask to calculate the expected value for waiting time in different conditions.

QT - Summer Internship Interview - Prop Trading

Anonymous interview candidate in Amsterdam
Interviewed: October 2024
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Employee Referral
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
1 on 1 Interview
IQ / Intelligence Test
Personality Test
Interview
So first of all you need to submit your Application.
After that you get sent an OA. (here I don't know if it helps having a referral, but I'm pretty sure it is completely useless).
Complete the OA and if you scored really well you will get an invitation for an interview in just a few days really (think 2-4).
You will get sent a list of documents on which you can prepare, it is mainly a reference for a book if I recall correctly).
Then you will have 3 interviews:
1 - Recruiter
2/3 - with traders
Interview Questions
To be honest they were the usual just motivational question, the talk me about yourself...
I do think I talked too much and this ruined my interview. Also I mentioned that it was my first time passing the OA, maybe don't say that even if they can probably see that

Quant Research Intern Interview

Anonymous interview candidate in Stanford
Interviewed: October 2024
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Skills Test
Interview
4+ hour test on different games and questions. I was mentally exhausted by the end of it. I believe I missed some patterns in the pattern-matching section and made a wrong move in one of the games. Overall, the test was difficult but fun. I didn't get selected for the next round though.
Interview Questions
The most difficult question I felt was the one which required programming a Markov chain to approximately find some probability. Having never programmed such problems, I was caught off guard and couldn't verify my answers in the given time.

Quant Trader Intern Interview - Quantitative Research

Anonymous interview candidate in Chicago
Interviewed: August 2024
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
1 on 1 Interview
Skills Test
IQ / Intelligence Test
Interview
Applied online without a referral. Receive link to OA a couple days later. Completed OA, heard within a week that I was moving onto the first round interview. Rejected a week after doing the first round interview.
Interview Questions
Asked a lot of probability questions regarding betting, I was unprepared for the novelty of the game that I was made to play during the interview.

Trading intern Interview

Anonymous interview candidate in London
Interviewed: October 2024
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Skills Test
IQ / Intelligence Test
Interview
The interview and hiring process for an Optiver trading intern typically begins with submitting an online application, which includes a resume and often a cover letter. After the application is reviewed, candidates may be invited to complete an online assessment that tests their numerical and logical reasoning skills, evaluating their analytical capabilities and mental math proficiency.

If successful in the assessments, candidates usually progress to the first round of interviews, which can take place over the phone or virtually. During these interviews, candidates are asked about their background, motivations for pursuing a trading career, and their interest in Optiver. This stage may also include technical questions related to finance and trading concepts, as well as brainteasers or problem-solving exercises to assess their analytical thinking.
Interview Questions
80 in 8 test, very difficult to do

Quantitative Trading Internship Interview - Trading

Anonymous interview candidate in Chicago
Interviewed: September 2024
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
IQ / Intelligence Test
Personality Test
Interview
It was an online assessment containing probability and combinatorics, IQ questions/games, sequences, and a behavioral survey.
Interview Questions
I found the sequences difficult.
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