Hudson River Trading Online Assessment
HRT's OA is role-dependent and recycles a small, stable pool that leans classic-algorithmic and simulation rather than quant-math. The flagship Algo Developer OA is a ~150-minute, 3-problem set from a current canon (Fancy Number, a 2048 / Reversi board simulation, an N-ary tree problem); SWE and intern roles get shorter CodeSignal / HackerRank coding sets. Quant Researcher candidates take the same SWE / Algo-Dev OA - only the Quant Analyst screen is separate (short, C++-only). 2027 cycle note: the pool has held for several consecutive years (our own sittings and coached candidates saw the same problems each time), but this year's OA is only just rolling out and we do not yet have enough reports to confirm it survived the refresh. Treat the canon as the floor and hedge with adjacent classic-algo practice (graphs, DP, simulation) until this cycle's reports land.
Practice every firm's OA: timed replicas, free game replicas and guides in one place →
Algo Developer — Algo Developer (Research)
The flagship OA and the single biggest cut: three problems from a stable, recycled canon (recent posts report 'all previously seen'). Correctness plus clean, tight, edge-case-correct code is what is graded.
- Fancy Number Coding · medium · free
- Reversi / Othello Coding · medium
- Ghost Word Game (Prefix Game) Coding · medium
- 2048 Simulator Coding · medium
- Fibonacci Check Coding · easy
- Count Squares and Rectangles Coding · medium
Software Engineering — SWE / SDE / intern
Classic LeetCode-style coding, often a CodeSignal 'General' resume-screen auto-send at medium difficulty. Early intern OAs (2019-2020) were C++-only and ran up to 4 hours.
- Add Binary Coding · easy
- Max Chunks To Make Sorted II Coding · medium
- Maximize by Changing One Digit Coding · easy
- Longest String With No Three Equal in a Row Coding · medium
- Label Graph Nodes to Maximize Edge Sum Coding · medium
- Adjacent-Pair Elimination Coding · easy
- Assassin Reaches the Exit Coding · medium
- In-Memory Filesystem Coding · hard
Quant Analyst — Quant Analyst
A short, C++-only screen for the Quant Analyst role: 30 minutes, two low-level problems testing idiomatic modern C++ - parsing a packed binary buffer and writing a container-rendering template. Both correctness and clean, type-safe C++ are graded. (Quant Researcher candidates take the Algo Developer assessment above.)
- Parse a Length-Prefixed Binary Buffer Coding · medium
- Templated Container Renderer Coding · medium
Hudson River Trading OA — FAQ
What is the Hudson River Trading online assessment?
HRT's OA is role-dependent and recycles a small, stable pool that leans classic-algorithmic and simulation rather than quant-math. The flagship Algo Developer OA is a ~150-minute, 3-problem set from a current canon (Fancy Number, a 2048 / Reversi board simulation, an N-ary tree problem); SWE and intern roles get shorter CodeSignal / HackerRank coding sets. Quant Researcher candidates take the same SWE / Algo-Dev OA - only the Quant Analyst screen is separate (short, C++-only). 2027 cycle note: the pool has held for several consecutive years (our own sittings and coached candidates saw the same problems each time), but this year's OA is only just rolling out and we do not yet have enough reports to confirm it survived the refresh. Treat the canon as the floor and hedge with adjacent classic-algo practice (graphs, DP, simulation) until this cycle's reports land.
What is the format of the Hudson River Trading OA?
It runs as 3 tracks (Algo Developer (Research), SWE / SDE / intern, Quant Analyst). Algo Developer, Software Engineering, Quant Analyst — each timed, auto-graded where applicable.
How do I practice for the Hudson River Trading online assessment?
Work the sample questions above (each with a full worked solution), then take the interactive Hudson River Trading OA practice on QuantVault. For the full interview, see the Hudson River Trading interview-questions set.