Optiver Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 2,052 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Which role are you interviewing for?
30 roles · 2,052 reportsCandidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Optiver.
Optiver
Graduate Trader
Entry Difficult Negative experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Take home Technical screen
Interview formats
Technical Other
I did an online assessment, which included sequence tests, the Zap N test (testing working memory, reflexes, and planning), and finally, probability questions where I had to estimate probabilities quickly. The Zap N involved tasks assessing working memory, reaction time, and planning abilities. The 'beat the odds' part focused on making good approximations for probabilities within a tight timeframe, about 1.5 minutes per question. After that, I had a technical interview involving market making games. I was rejected after this stage, so I don't have info on further rounds.
Confirmed questions0 questions
No confirmed questions were included in this interview report.
Optiver
Software Engineer
Entry Difficult Positive experience No offer 4 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Take home Technical screen Technical screen
Interview formats
Technical Coding System Design
I got contacted by a recruiter, then had a 2-3 hour online assessment. After that, there was a 1-hour technical interview where I had to design a queue with a circular buffer. The final round consisted of two 1-hour technical interviews. One involved a leetcode problem, medium difficulty, but more focused on coding and design than typical leetcode problems. The other was a pretty laid-back system design interview about exchanges. I heard they have a hire-to-fire mentality, with a 50% layoff rate, so I'm glad I didn't get the offer.
Confirmed questions2 questions
- Can you design an implementation for a circular buffer queue?
- How would you implement a queue using a circular buffer?
Optiver
Quantitative Researcher
Entry Average Neutral experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Take home Recruiter call Technical screen
Interview formats
Coding Behavioral Technical
The online assessment was tough and different from last year, with only 4 games in Zap'n Test instead of the old 80 in 8. It was easier than the old one but harder than a typical quant internship OA. Then there was a vague behavioral interview, after which I was rejected. I guess I wasn't what they were looking for. I've heard the technical interviews are pretty hard too.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Tell me about a situation where you actively sought feedback and how you incorporated it into your work.
Optiver
Intern
Intern Average Positive experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Take home Recruiter call Technical screen
Interview formats
Coding Technical Behavioral
So first there was this really long online assessment (OA). After that, I had a short behavioral interview. Then, a cognitive test that looked at betting sizes, arbitrage, and how to exploit bad bets. The later stages involved more general quantitative trading questions, specifically about EV.
Confirmed questions6 questions
- Standard quantitative trading questions
- Programming questions for quantitative researchers
- Questions about betting sizes
Optiver Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Optiver interview reports.
“What is the expected escape time of a 2D random walk?”
Read reports →“When rolling six dice simultaneously, what's the chance the sum of the numbers shown is even?”
Read reports →“For a random number selected between 1 and 1 million, what is the probability that the digit 7 appears at least once?”
Read reports →“What is the expected number of children in a family that has children one by one until the number of daughters exceeds the number of sons by exactly one?”
Read reports →“If you roll 3 dice at the same time, what is the probability that the numbers shown are in strictly increasing order?”
Read report →“What is the expected number of cards you need to flip to get an ace?”
Read report →“If you roll a dice, what are the chances you will get 1 six times?”
Read report →“What is the probability that a randomly placed 3-legged table on a circle will not fall off?”
Read report →“What is the expected number of moves required to exit the center of a 10x10 grid?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 2,052 Optiver interview reports.