Five Rings hires Quant Trader, Quant Researcher and Software Engineer. Candidates report 3 to 5 interview stages depending on the track (6 distinct rounds across all tracks). Below: what each round tests and how to prepare, the path by track, the timeline, pay and a 4-week prep plan, drawn from candidate reports and Five Rings's own recruiting pages.
Five Rings interview: quick answer
- StagesBy track: Quant Trader: 4 · Quant Researcher: 5 · Software Engineer: 3 (6 distinct rounds across all tracks)
- Online assessment~17–30 min · webcam · no calculator
- Final roundFinal Rounds: Head of trading → 'boss'
- Pay (candidate-reported)Quant Trader, New grad: $250k – $450k total comp
- RolesQuant Trader, Quant Researcher, Software Engineer
Preparing for Five Rings? Work the rounds in order in the free Five Rings interview funnel, or start with the free online-assessment sample (no signup).
The Five Rings interview process at a glance
| # | Round | Format and length | Who takes it | Prep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timed Mental-Math Screen | ~17–30 min · webcam · no calculator | All tracks | OA guidePractice |
| 2 | Technical Phone | 45–60 min · with a QR / trader | All tracks | GuidePractice |
| 3 | Dice / Betting Game Round | Interactive · with a trader | Quant Trader | GuidePractice |
| 4 | Second Technical Phone | 45–60 min · estimation / inference | Quant Researcher | GuidePractice |
| 5 | Data Project | Take-home · NDA | Quant Researcher | GuidePractice |
| 6 | Final Rounds | Head of trading → 'boss' | All tracks | GuidePractice |
Stages are listed in the order candidates report them. Formats come from candidate reports and change between cycles, offices and teams; the "Who takes it" column shows which track each round belongs to.
How the Five Rings process differs by track
Five Rings runs separate loops for different roles. Here is the path each track reports, in order:
- Quant Trader (4 stages): Timed Mental-Math Screen → Technical Phone → Dice / Betting Game Round → Final Rounds
- Quant Researcher (5 stages): Timed Mental-Math Screen → Technical Phone → Second Technical Phone → Data Project → Final Rounds
- Software Engineer (3 stages): Timed Mental-Math Screen → Technical Phone → Final Rounds
Not sure which track fits you? See quant trader vs quant researcher.
Every Five Rings round: what it tests and how to prepare
1Timed Mental-Math Screen
The dominant filter: an OA or an HR-read live screen. ~17-20 questions in ~17-30 minutes (QR: ~12-16 with per-question timers), webcam on, fill-in-the-blank, answer to the nearest integer. Content: mental math, probability, estimation, light calculus (arc length), modular arithmetic. The QT version also has a behavioral intro ('why trading / why Five Rings') and a Fermi-estimation section.
Question types: mostly combinatorics, expectation and probability, especially expected value, discrete probability, conditional probability and symmetry. Latest candidate report for this round: Jul 2026.
How to prepare
- Speed is everything — ~1–3 min per question. Drill mental arithmetic, log/power approximations (1.01^20, 10th root of 10, √228, # digits of 50!), and quick probability.
- Estimation is graded: structured Fermi with a clear breakdown beats a wild guess.
- Light calculus shows up (arc length of sin x, x³); know the setup cold.
Five Rings online assessment guide →Practice this round (25 questions) →
2Technical Phone
Deeper probability and statistics with a quant researcher (often a math PhD who hints heavily): variance of a coordinate of a random point on a sphere, P(X+Y > XY) for two dice, the broken-stick longer-piece expectation, random-walk hitting probabilities, the signature bus-stop residual-life waiting-time problem, and regression facts (Y~X vs X~Y slope bounds, σ_{X+Y} → correlation).
- Expect three or more 45 to 60 minute rounds with traders: probability with layered follow-ups, distributions, random walks and expected value.
Question types: mostly expectation, probability and random variables, especially expected value, uniform distribution, combinatorics and independence. Latest candidate report for this round: Oct 2025.
How to prepare
- Symmetry + indicator tricks crack most of these fast (sphere-coordinate variance, expected painted faces, semicircle coverage).
- Regression facts: Y~X vs X~Y slopes, their product = R², and correlation from σ_X, σ_Y, σ_{X+Y}.
Full Technical Phone guide →Practice this round (41 questions) →
3Dice / Betting Game Round
The trader signature: escalating game-DESIGN problems. Design a custom die (faces summing to 21) to maximize your win rate against an opponent using the same die; then asymmetric-die variants; then die-vs-deck comparisons reasoning about negative covariance from sampling without replacement; plus random-walk EV-bound problems. It's pure EV intuition under rising complexity.
- Reported game types include bidding for a prize under the winner's curse and a two-card bluffing game.
Question types: mostly expectation, combinatorics and probability, especially discrete probability, symmetry, expected value and independence. Latest candidate report for this round: Nov 2025.
How to prepare
- Reason about the full distribution, not just the mean — a die that ties 1/3 of the time can beat a higher-mean die.
- Sampling without replacement induces negative covariance — that's the crux of the die-vs-deck comparison.
- For the random walks, bound the EV with inequalities rather than chasing an exact closed form.
Full Dice / Betting Game Round guide →Practice this round (19 questions) →
4Second Technical Phone
Question types: mostly brain teasers, statistics and probability, especially estimation, expected value, numerical methods and uniform distribution. Latest candidate report for this round: Oct 2025.
How to prepare
- MLE + CI fundamentals: U(0,θ) estimator, and when to use a normal-based vs distribution-free interval.
- Know the E[N]=e result (draws of U(0,1) until the sum exceeds 1) and how to get its variance and a CI.
- Mean vs median via Jensen for skewed/decreasing densities — a recurring inference prompt.
Full Second Technical Phone guide →Practice this round (12 questions) →
5Data Project
A QR-specific take-home dataset project (NDA-covered, so details are scarce). Weak performance here is a common reject reason: it's a real gate, not a formality.
How to prepare
- Treat it as research, not a homework grind — clear EDA, a defensible model, and honest validation.
- Make the edge legible — a simple, well-justified result beats an opaque complex one.
Watch out: Avoid look-ahead / overfitting and be ready to explain every choice.
6Final Rounds
The closing sequence: a head-of-trading round and then a 'boss' final. More probability/EV plus fit, with the same friendly-but-high-bar vibe. The full-time bar is reported as brutal.
- A full day of interviews with traders, quants and developers.
Question types: mostly expectation, probability and brain teasers, especially expected value, first-passage and stopping times, order statistics and binomial distribution. Latest candidate report for this round: Oct 2025.
How to prepare
- Stay sharp on EV reasoning — the final rounds still probe it.
- Show genuine interest in trading and the firm — small shop, culture matters.
- Be patient with the timeline — replies are slow between rounds.
Full Final Rounds guide →Practice this round (11 questions) →
Practice the Five Rings rounds in order
Each round in the Five Rings funnel has its own practice set, with worked solutions and progress tracking. A free account saves your progress across rounds.
Intern vs full-time
Intern applicants report a 17-question HackerRank screen at about one minute per question, covering counting, probability, logs and powers, and estimation at a stated precision.
Regional differences
Five Rings' own site lists offices in New York and London.
A 4-week Five Rings prep plan
Built from the order of Five Rings's rounds on the Quant Trader path and the topics in each round's practice set. Compress it if your first interview is sooner. Other tracks can swap in their own rounds from the table above.
| When | Focus | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Foundations | Review expectation, probability and combinatorics, the topics that dominate Five Rings's practice sets. Start with Probability course. Work the easy and medium questions in the Five Rings question set. |
| Week 2 | Early rounds: Timed Mental-Math Screen, Technical Phone and Dice / Betting Game Round | Practice expectation, probability and combinatorics under time pressure, and take the free OA sample (format notes in the OA guide). Add a daily mental-math drill. Talk every answer through out loud; interviewers score the reasoning. |
| Week 3 | Later rounds: Final Rounds | Move to random variables, stochastic processes and linear algebra. Read how quant superdays work. |
| Week 4 | Rehearse the full loop | Run each practice round in order, redo the questions you missed, and prepare two project stories plus a specific answer to "why Five Rings?" (see behavioral questions at trading firms). |
Five Rings pay
| Role | Level | Total comp | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quant Trader | New grad | $250k – $450k | Top-of-market for a boutique MM; small headcount, very selective. |
| Quant Researcher | New grad / PhD | $250k – $450k | PhD-skewed research track with a take-home data project gate. |
Total compensation means base salary plus bonus and any sign-on, as candidates self-report it. Job postings usually show base salary only, so posted figures and outside salary pages often look lower. Rough ranges, NOT offers. Five Rings pays at the top of the market for a small MM; trader comp is heavily bonus-driven. Source: Candidate self-reports (levels.fyi, Glassdoor, and candidate forums) — not employer-verified. Last updated May 29, 2026.
Five Rings teams and what their interviews test
Quant Trader and Quant Researcher share the same skeleton (a timed math screen, then technical phone rounds, then final rounds), differing mainly in flavor. A separate SWE track exists with little public problem data.
| Tracks | What it does | What its interviews test |
|---|---|---|
| Quant Trader Trader | Options market making; EV and risk decisions. | Timed math/estimation screen → technical phone → escalating dice/betting-design game rounds → head-of-trading → 'boss' final. |
| Quant Researcher Quant Researcher | Signal/pricing research. PhD-heavy. | Timed math screen (12–16 Q, per-question timers) → probability/stochastic phone → estimation/MLE/CI phone → take-home data project → final. |
About Five Rings
| Firm type | Proprietary options market maker |
|---|---|
| Trading style | Mental-math + EV / game-design driven · Options / ETF market making |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Headquarters | New York, NY |
| Other offices | false |
| Capital | Proprietary (private) |
| Employees | ~236 |
| Reported performance | ~$200-400M/yr (est.); a tough business |
| Phone screen | A 20 to 30 minute recruiter call ending in rapid-fire estimation and arithmetic questions read against a timer |
| Final round | A full day of interviews |
Culture
Small, sharp, and selective — the full-time bar is described as brutally high. Replies are slow (~1 week between rounds). QR interviewers are often Harvard/MIT/Russian math PhDs who hint heavily; the vibe is friendly but the math bar is the filter.
What the interviews feel like
A timed mental-math / estimation screen does the heavy filtering, then probability/stats with hints. The trader track adds dice/betting-DESIGN games that test EV intuition under escalating complexity.
Practice for Five Rings on QuantVault
Practice
Courses
Games and drills
Further reading
- How quant superdays work
- Market-making game interview guide
- Behavioral questions at trading firms
- Mental math for trading interviews
- Fermi estimation questions
- The quant interview process, explained
Similar firms to compare
Firms with a similar business and interview style. Many candidates interview at several of them in the same cycle.
Sources and how this guide is built
- Updated October 20, 2026; firm data last reviewed May 29, 2026; pay last updated May 29, 2026.
- Round detail draws on 69 questions candidates report from Five Rings interviews (the most recent report across all rounds is from Jul 2026). A separate curated Five Rings question set of 85 problems collects the most useful practice for this firm.
- Five Rings's own pages: Campus recruiting · Open positions.
- Public candidate reports and outside interview guides are cross-checked against each other. Where they disagree the page says "reports differ"; details from a single source are marked as candidate reports.
- No actual interview questions are reproduced on this page. The questions, with worked solutions, are in the practice rounds.
Five Rings interview FAQ
How many rounds are in the Five Rings interview?
It depends on the track: Quant Trader: 4; Quant Researcher: 5; Software Engineer: 3 stages. Across all tracks candidates report 6 distinct rounds: Timed Mental-Math Screen, Technical Phone, Dice / Betting Game Round, Second Technical Phone, Data Project, Final Rounds.
Is there an online assessment at Five Rings?
Candidates report one: ~17–30 min · webcam · no calculator. The dominant filter: an OA or an HR-read live screen. ~17-20 questions in ~17-30 minutes (QR: ~12-16 with per-question timers), webcam on, fill-in-the-blank, answer to the nearest integer. Content: mental math, probability, estimation, light calculus (arc length), modular arithmetic.
What happens in the Five Rings final round?
Final Rounds (Head of trading → 'boss'). The closing sequence: a head-of-trading round and then a 'boss' final. More probability/EV plus fit, with the same friendly-but-high-bar vibe.
Does the Five Rings process differ by role?
Yes. Quant Trader: Timed Mental-Math Screen, Technical Phone, Dice / Betting Game Round, Final Rounds. Quant Researcher: Timed Mental-Math Screen, Technical Phone, Second Technical Phone, Data Project, Final Rounds. Software Engineer: Timed Mental-Math Screen, Technical Phone, Final Rounds.
How much does Five Rings pay?
Candidate-reported total compensation: Quant Trader (New grad) $250k – $450k; Quant Researcher (New grad / PhD) $250k – $450k. These are self-reported totals including bonus, not offers; job postings usually list base salary only.
How should I prepare for the Five Rings interview?
Prepare round by round over about four weeks: foundations first, then the early rounds (Timed Mental-Math Screen, Technical Phone, Dice / Betting Game Round), then the later rounds, then a full rehearsal. Each round has its own practice set on QuantVault, and the online assessment has a dedicated guide.
What does Five Rings do?
Five Rings is a proprietary options market maker headquartered in New York, NY.
What is the Five Rings phone screen?
A short recruiter call: a brief chat about motivation, then a list of estimation and arithmetic questions read aloud against a countdown. Ask early whether they want a decimal or a fraction, and give a quick answer at sensible precision rather than a slow exact one.
Do traders need to code at Five Rings?
Not on the trader screen, and only lightly if at all later in the process.
Start preparing for Five Rings
Open the interactive Five Rings interview funnel: every stage with its practice set, from the first screen to the final round. Create a free account to save your progress.