Tech questions for trading SA
Hey guys,
Having a super day in trading coming up in 2 weeks. I'm reading Vault and Heard on the Street. Was just wondering whether you guys have any advice on how to prepare for the interviews (especially the tech part of it).
If any of you has gone through a super day in trading (with BB) and remember the types of questions you were asked, please share. I would really appreciate!
Thanks!
Really comes down to four parts:
1 and 2 are self explanatory. 3 just takes some prep with heard on the street.
4 is where candidates differentiate themselves, and its very hard to BS. If you are actually interested in a product, it will come out in the interview. It is a simple case of making your own path. For someone who nails 1-3, the path is a lot more random to a desk than someone who nails 1-4. As an example going into my SA superdays I knew that options was something that I wanted to focus on, and because i had a genuine interest and was able to convince the interviewer of it, it got flagged throughout the interview process and internship and i was able to get an offer from an options trading desk. Its the one thing i dont think enough candidates do, to really research beforehand and find things that interest them. Everyone comes in wanting to do trading, but if you ask them about which asset class or which desk within an asset class they dont have anything.
Thanks so much. Can you elaborate more about the tech part (#4)? Besides the product question, what else they may ask? How to best prepare for those tech questions?
with your background, i'd be surprised if you got any straight technical questions (e.g. "what is modified duration and how is it calculated?"). instead, be prepared to:
a have technical concepts explained to you and then answer questions on those new concepts (e.g. interviewer gives explanations of callable and putable bonds, with no prior knowledge assumed "okay, i'm selling three bonds --one callable, one putable, and one vanilla-- which are the same in every way, apart from the embedded options i just described. which one is most expensive? which one is least expensive? why?");
and, b answer topical questions that implicitly assume basic technical/product knowledge (e.g. "what do you think will happen to the price of oil if iran decides to disrupt its flow through the straight of hormuz? how do you think that would that affect oil producers? how about your local retailers?").
also, derivstrading has done a great job of giving you a list of everything you need to prepare for, in order of importance. definitely try to touch on everything, but don't bother getting into the nitty gritty of options, for example, until you can absolutely crush 1 and 2 and are at least proficient in 3 (including quick mental arithmetic). he also makes a great point about finding an asset class that interests you and really following it --it's very impressive to interviewers, helps differentiate you, and proves you're not just a bullshitter.
In a perfect world...yes...however, you dont know which desks are hiring...so you dont want to ding yourself by saying you're into credit trading, which the BB just laid of the entire desk
Great post derivstrading!
A follow up question, if you don't mind, what are some of the product questions for equities or anything else not very quantitative? I have an equities trading final round coming up and have been wondering what questions they might ask.
only UBS gave me technicals..no other bb...there is a general trend on the street to focus mostly on behavioral
Also..UBS is the only one that did brainteasers
Thanks Bernankey. I will be interviewing with JPM. Hopefully no tech question for me (non-finance background) For the product question, I remember reading somewhere on the site that the people working on the desk are more important than the products. So I guess I will not too worry about it.
I would really focus more on the market questions/your opinion. I had three super days and got one brain teaser. Even if they do give you a BT, you will most likely have not seen the question before. Going through the Heard on the Street is really good enough prep I would argue, especially since that book is for more quant types.
Remember, your background and how you answer questions will dictate what future questions will be. For example, if you have Lin Alg on your resume, you might get a math question. These people want to see if they want to sit next to you for 12 hours a day.
EDIT: not exactly answering your original question, but might still help.
Bernankey and Koho,
Its not a case of preparing for the slight probability that you might get technical questions, its about knowing enough that you want to get technical questions. If you go through a trading interview with only behavioural questions, trust me, you are at best in a lottery for that job, and not a high probability one. The number one thing trading desks look for is interest, and it doesnt matter if you know a lot about credit derivatives and that whole desk got fired, its about showing that spark you have for the job. I was interviewed by only FICC guys for my SA interviews, but I was able to show my enthusiasm for the job through my knowledge of equity derivs and it was always noted in my feedback.
Agreed. Doesn't hurt to be overprepared. But I would say personality and fit would count more (traditional s&t not quant).
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