The IMC Trading Technical Round interview is stage 5 of 7 in the IMC Trading interview process, after the Trader / Market-Making Game Round. Format: 45–60 min · video · math / stats / coding / ML. The quant research technical round: probability and statistics, a dynamic-programming or combinatorics coding problem, and, for the machine-learning variant, ML fundamentals (information gain, decision trees, classification, model trade-offs) plus an ML coding task and a Monte Carlo or optimization segment.
Preparing for this round? Practice the 38 questions mapped to the IMC Trading Technical Round, with worked solutions. A free account saves your progress.
What the Technical Round tests
Derivations are expected, not just answers.
QuantVault maps 38 practice problems to this round. By topic, the biggest groups are probability (16), combinatorics (7), expectation (3), statistics (3); by difficulty, 17 easy, 16 medium and 5 hard. 27 of them were reported by candidates who interviewed at IMC Trading, most recently in Jun 2026.
Who takes this round: Quant Researcher candidates. See the full IMC Trading process and who takes each round.
How to prepare for the Technical Round
- Be fluent in the ML basics they probe: information gain / decision-tree splits, bias-variance & regularization, and when a simple model beats a complex one.
- Expect a clean coding problem (2-D DP, combination sum) alongside the math — practice translating a probability/combinatorics setup into code.
Further reading: How quant superdays work · Behavioral questions at trading firms · Market-making game interview guide.
Question types in this round
The 5 largest question types in the IMC Trading Technical Round practice set; across them the most common sub-topics are discrete probability, conditional probability, expected value, independence, Bayes' theorem, symmetry. The questions themselves, with worked solutions, are in the round practice.
Probability16 in this round
Combinatorics7 in this round
Expectation3 in this round
Statistics3 in this round
Optimization2 in this round
Prepare with QuantVault
The same round at similar firms
Compare with similar firms
Frequently asked questions
What is the IMC Trading Technical Round interview?
It is stage 5 of 7 in the IMC Trading interview process, after the Trader / Market-Making Game Round. Format: 45–60 min · video · math / stats / coding / ML. The quant research technical round: probability and statistics, a dynamic-programming or combinatorics coding problem, and, for the machine-learning variant, ML fundamentals (information gain, decision trees, classification, model trade-offs) plus an ML coding task and a Monte Carlo or optimization segment. Derivations are expected, not just answers.
How long is the IMC Trading Technical Round interview?
Candidates report: 45–60 min · video · math / stats / coding / ML.
What questions come up in the IMC Trading Technical Round interview?
The practice set QuantVault maps to this round centers on probability, combinatorics, expectation.
How should I prepare for the IMC Trading Technical Round interview?
Be fluent in the ML basics they probe: information gain / decision-tree splits, bias-variance & regularization, and when a simple model beats a complex one. Expect a clean coding problem (2-D DP, combination sum) alongside the math — practice translating a probability/combinatorics setup into code.
What comes after the Technical Round?
The Onsite Coding + Systems (stage 6 of 7). Format: 2-hr sessions · live coding + systems deep-dive.
Practice the IMC Trading Technical Round round
Work the 38 mapped practice problems with progress tracking, then move to the next stage of the IMC Trading funnel.