Spot trading phone interview

I have a 2nd round phone interview with Spot Trading next week for an algorithmic trader role. The recruiter said that i will be speaking with a financial engineer and that the questions will be technical.

Given that i'm not a programmer i would be really screwed if i get programming questions. When i asked the recruiter for details, she didn't specify. Not quite sure if it's mostly math/brainteasers/probability like the other top prop shops.

If anyone else has interviewed with spot for a trading role, any insight will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

18 Comments
 

If you're not a programmer then they shouldn't ask you any programming questions. They'll ask technical questions related to your background. They can't realistically assess you on something that you have no knowledge of.

 

I recently had the phone interview with a senior financial engineer. He grilled me on my work and strategies. I sort of got the impression that he was fishing, and that was confirmed when he said at the end, "well, based on what i've heard i don't think your strategy can add much value to what we're doing. We want someone to come in and sort of plug an existing model and scale it out."

What was surprising was that this was NOT the job i was interviewing for. There was no mention of me going in and importing a model i had previously used.

This is one reason why i hate prop trading interviews. So much fishing going on for information.

 

Hi LingLing90,

How'd the interview go? Hope it went well!

I've only spoken to someone on their trading team, and my impression was that the interview for STP trading would be fairly conventional as prop trading interviews go.

It is interesting, though, that they have a fundamental equity research group now, so I too would be confused about what to expect. Did you get brainteasers? Maybe a stock pitch?

Just curious, are you focusing your search on buyside ER?

Best of luck!

 

Good point. First two rounds were very technical - lots of C++, stochastic calculus, PDEs and some option pricing. I guess the final one's going to be similar. Was just curious if anyone on here has ever worked for them or has had other experiences.

 

Hi Colin,

Sorry I'm just seeing this now. I've had two rounds of interviews with Spot, they were almost entirely behavioral. I'm still waiting to hear back regarding the final round. How did this turn out for you?

 

Reiciendis animi deserunt omnis optio autem explicabo autem. Officiis qui nulla rem maiores quia quis quasi. Atque vitae doloremque aut aut distinctio. Optio necessitatibus quas voluptatum dolorem.

Est harum qui laborum enim laborum. Aut vel similique aut unde sit. Labore doloribus ut labore vero sunt non veniam. Soluta quam aut iure ea facilis quia repellendus sed. Maxime beatae in ipsum tempore in ex aspernatur. Illum velit officiis quas et. Tenetur sint sed consequatur.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”