Optiver Interview ProcessTier 2

Options & ETF Market Maker · Amsterdam, Chicago, Austin, Sydney, Shanghai

92 practice questions → Apply at Optiver → Learn more about Optiver ↗ Report a question from your Optiver interview

231

problems

58 easy 105 medium 68 hard

hires: Quant Researcher, Quant Trader, Software Engineer

Online Assessment

Optiver's online assessment is a brutal, timed battery rather than a single coding test. Quant Trader / Quant Researcher candidates get Number Logic (sequence puzzles), Beat the Odds (rapid probability), a 2026-era Likelihood Test, and the Zap-N reaction/memory mini-games; QR also gets a 3-problem HackerRank algo coding section. Software Engineers instead get one or two long trading-flavored OOD simulation problems plus a CS-knowledge MCQ. No calculator; mental math throughout; scoring on the probability modules is +1 correct, -1 wrong, 0 for skip.

Practice this round 27 problems Pro

All quant tracks

current

2019 -> 2027

Number Logic & Beat the Oddsno calculator26 seq / 25 min + 30 prob x 90 s

The two core question modules. Number Logic: find the next term in a sequence (alternating sub-sequences, a(n)=2a(n-1)+a(n-2), difference ladders). Beat the Odds: rapid probability/EV, pick the CLOSEST option. Both score +1/-1/0 - skip pure guesses.

Number Logic replica3 full sets, real 25:00 shellPro Beat the Odds replica3 full sets, 90 s per questionPro

Number Logic - timed assessmentReal reported OA questions, on the clockPro Beat the Odds - timed assessmentReal reported OA questions, on the clockPro see all 12 problems →

current

2019 -> 2027

Mini-games & 2026 modulesin-browser replicas

The rest of the battery, rebuilt screen-for-screen from candidate captures: the 80-in-8 mental-arithmetic screen, the three 2026 modules (Likelihood ranking, Interval answers, Order Books arbitrage), and the Zap-N reaction/memory games.

Mental Arithmetic 80-in-880 MC / 8 min, +1/-1, no skipPro Likelihood Listrank 3 outcomes, 15 q x 90 sPro Intervalssubmit [lower, upper], 18 q x 60 sPro Order Booksspot the arbitrage, 20 boards / 8 minPro Zap-N mini-games hubstacking, task-switch, balloon, recallPro

Software Engineer / SDE / NG

current

2023 -> 2026

Coding (OOD simulation)CodeSignal, 75-90 min1-2 long problems

The software OA is one or two long object-oriented simulation problems built around a trading-flavored real-world scenario (news feed, packet stream, balloon festival, satellite network, squirrel storage), 75-90 min each, followed by a ~20-question CS-knowledge MCQ (DS / OS / networking / databases). You implement a small class with a handful of methods; corner cases and the last method are where most candidates run out of time. The five simulations below run in the editor's interview/scratch mode (write and test your own driver, like the real assessment); the shorter standalone tasks (date diff, word search, dependency dedup, GPS analysis, redundant-stream merge) seen in regional/FPGA SWE OAs are auto-graded.

NewsProvider Subscription SystemTopic-routed news with min-interest + max-age eligibility, a per-subscriber sliding-window rate limit, and priority ordering. The signature 2026 SWE-intern OOD problem.CodingHardSolve →Satellite Network Message ProtocolEvent-simulate propagation: forward to neighbors in ascending id (10s each), report back to Earth (30s) once all neighbors have the message, smaller id first on ties.CodingHardSolve →Balloon Festival Wind StabilitySum wind sources by altitude, flip a balloon unstable above 15 m/s, recover after 300s safe; report your stable balloons above the highest stable competitor.CodingHardSolve →Squirrel Research Nut StorageLayered cone storage: hide deepest-layer-first, retrieve top-down heaviest-first (lexicographic ties), discard expired nuts, honor the 50%-remaining rule.CodingHardSolve →see all 10 problems →

Quant Researcher

current

2024 -> 2026

QR HackerRank codingHackerRank, 90 min3 problems

The QR variant adds a 3-problem HackerRank algo section: trading-math problems such as counting valid trading sequences, a proportional-allocation backtest, order-book matching, currency-arbitrage detection, and optimal execution with a broker. Clean algorithmic implementation under time pressure - all five recurring problems are below and auto-graded.

Trading Sequence CountingCount valid ordered buy/sell sequences via a constrained walk (composition / ballot DP).CodingEasySolve →Detecting Currency Arbitrage with a Transaction FeeDetect a profitable FX cycle net of per-leg fees via Bellman-Ford negative-cycle detection on -log rates.CodingMediumSolve →Order Book Matching: Sum of Trade PricesMatch incoming orders against resting buys/sells with two heaps; return the sum of all trade prices.CodingMediumSolve →Optimal Execution Cost with a Broker BackstopBuy n units under uniform random quotes with a limited broker backstop; backward DP for the optimal accept/broker policy.CodingHardSolve →see all 5 problems →

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56 firmsEvery stageMust-do problems

HR / Behavioral Call

~20 min · recruiter Round guide →

A short conversational round: why Optiver, why trading / quant, other offers, visa/sponsorship, and a walk-through of a project. Functions as a culture/logistics check and lays out the remaining flow.

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Editorial round — no practice problems.

Trading / Betting Game (Tech 1 & 2)

25–45 min · interactive · 1-on-1 with a trader Round guide →

Signature filter for BOTH QT and QR. Bet a bankroll across simultaneous boards (3 coin flips, 2 dice, 3-card draws) whose odds reshuffle each round, plus a market-making sub-game (two-sided market on three cards' sum). A trader trades against you asking 'why this bet.' Scored: Kelly sizing, mispriced-odds arbitrage, risk discipline, not raw P&L. Too conservative = cut; rehearse below.

GAME Probability Market-Taking intermediate~12 min Be the price taker on a board of coin, dice and card odds: back the +EV bets, size by Kelly, lock the arbitrag… Pro GAME Card Table intermediate~12 min A live poker table — make and take two-sided markets on the total of every card, racing AI traders for the mis… Pro GAME Next Card intermediate~6 min Call the next card higher or lower and stake part of your bankroll. Count what is left, size to your edge, and… Pro

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#72 Bus Waiting Paradox expectation hard #1330 Stone Pile Redistribution Gameseen 2025-11 game-theory hard #2005 Market Making with Adverse Selection and Inventory Penalty market-microstructure hard #251 Expected Draws Until First Ace and First Kingseen 2025-10 expectation hard #529 Two-Pile Nim: Winning and Losing Positionsseen 2026-02 game-theory medium #2076 Score-Difference Market Making Under Adverse Selection market-microstructure hard #340 Card Product Betting and Kelly Growthseen 2026-02 expectation hard #545 ABA vs. BAB Tournament Sequence Strategy game-theory medium

Cognitive Interview (Career Kickstarter and trading programs)

45-60 min · Zoom with a trader · Optiver Assessment Platform Round guide →

Final stage for Optiver's Career Kickstarter: Trading program (per a candidate's September 2026 invitation): a 45 to 60 minute Zoom with one trader on the Optiver Assessment Platform, camera on.

Games, brainteasers and puzzles, including a market-making game (cheat sheet of terms sent beforehand). Paper and pencil for some games; no calculator or phone. Optiver says it re-tests the online assessment's speed and accuracy and your approach: new information arrives as you go, and if the trader seems to hint, they probably are.

GAME Probability Market-Taking intermediate~12 min Be the price taker on a board of coin, dice and card odds: back the +EV bets, size by Kelly, lock the arbitrag… Pro GAME Card Table intermediate~12 min A live poker table — make and take two-sided markets on the total of every card, racing AI traders for the mis… Pro GAME Make a Market beginner~12 min Quote a tight two-sided market on a fact or a guesstimate you can't know exactly, while an interviewer tra… Pro

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#414 First Odd Number in Alphabetical Ordering brain-teaser hard #72 Bus Waiting Paradox expectation hard #2005 Market Making with Adverse Selection and Inventory Penalty market-microstructure hard #137 Simpson's Paradox with Poisson Scoring probability hard #46 Twelve Balls and a Balance Scale brain-teaser medium #251 Expected Draws Until First Ace and First Kingseen 2025-10 expectation hard #2076 Score-Difference Market Making Under Adverse Selection market-microstructure hard #161 CLT Approximation for Coin Flips probability hard

Technical / Brain-Teaser (QR track)

60–75 min · Zoom whiteboard · with a researcher Round guide →

The QR technical round: 3-4 problems mixing probability, conditional expectation, number theory, and brain-teasers, plus a Fermi estimation. Recurring favorites include the two-piles-of-stones doubling invariant, the bus-waiting paradox, a Latin-square diagonal-sum proof, and 'how many years until you're 97.5% sure the price exceeds 100.' They want a clean argument, not just an answer.

Practice this round 189 problems →

#414 First Odd Number in Alphabetical Ordering brain-teaser hard #856 Solving the Sliding Puzzle with A* Search coding hard #1290 Minimum Clues for a Unique Sudoku combinatorics hard #72 Bus Waiting Paradox expectation hard #2335 Risk-Free Split in an Arbitrage Coin Betseen 2025-11 finance medium #1330 Stone Pile Redistribution Gameseen 2025-11 game-theory hard #2126 Comparing Forecasting Models for Daily Asset Returns machine-learning medium #2005 Market Making with Adverse Selection and Inventory Penalty market-microstructure hard #439 Kelly-Optimal Allocation Across Independent Betsseen 2025-08 optimization hard #1021 Pricing a Call on the Dice-Cancellation Sum options-pricing hard #137 Simpson's Paradox with Poisson Scoring probability hard #1938 Cross-Sectional Factor Model: OLS, R-squared, and Regularization regression medium

Take-Home Data Project + Deep-Dive (QR track)

Take-home · then ~45 min presentation Round guide →

QR candidates get an algo-trading dataset and build/backtest a strategy. It's graded on realized profit, not R²: a clean linear model is enough to pass. About two days after you submit, you're invited to a presentation / deep-dive where they probe your methodology hard, with heavy follow-ups on pandas and time-series handling.

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#856 Solving the Sliding Puzzle with A* Search coding hard #2126 Comparing Forecasting Models for Daily Asset Returns machine-learning medium #1938 Cross-Sectional Factor Model: OLS, R-squared, and Regularization regression medium #1741 GARCH vs. Constant Volatility: LR Tests and VaR Backtesting statistics hard #1895 AR(1) Mean Reversion: OLS Estimation, Hypothesis Testing, and Trading Rule time-series hard #1329 Stone Pile Doubling Gameseen 2025-11 coding hard #2024 Multiple Testing and Spurious Sharpe Ratios statistics hard #1913 Block Bootstrap for Trading Signal Robustness time-series medium

Market-Making Game Day (QT track)

Interactive · multiple rounds · trading floor or virtual Round guide →

QT-distinctive round(s), reported as 5 rounds, target total score ≥ 2.0: quote a closed interval [L, U] on a numeric estimate, scoring L/U if inside (tighter = higher), else 0. Horse-race variant: 4-8 horses, win-probability proportional to ability; fast EV / odds estimation, spot arbitrage. Onsite QT may be a full day of trading games and group exercises. Timed replica; practise the market-making part in Card Table and Make a Market.

GAME Card Table intermediate~12 min A live poker table — make and take two-sided markets on the total of every card, racing AI traders for the mis… Pro GAME Make a Market beginner~12 min Quote a tight two-sided market on a fact or a guesstimate you can't know exactly, while an interviewer tra… Pro

Practice this round →

#1330 Stone Pile Redistribution Gameseen 2025-11 game-theory hard #2005 Market Making with Adverse Selection and Inventory Penalty market-microstructure hard #1021 Pricing a Call on the Dice-Cancellation Sum options-pricing hard #529 Two-Pile Nim: Winning and Losing Positionsseen 2026-02 game-theory medium #2076 Score-Difference Market Making Under Adverse Selection market-microstructure hard #1355 Bayesian Coin Selection with Adverse Market Making options-pricing hard #545 ABA vs. BAB Tournament Sequence Strategy game-theory medium #1760 Market Making Game: Quoting Bid-Ask Spreads market-microstructure medium

Final — Culture-Fit

~45 min · with a hiring manager / partner Round guide →

Nominally behavioral with a senior partner, functionally a fit / taste decision: the round most famous for rejecting technically-strong candidates. Free-flowing, with curious interruptions. Expect 'why quant, not academia', your personal story, 'what's your edge over others', a blunt strengths/weaknesses ranking vs your cohort, and career goals. Fast turnaround. Optiver applies an 8-month cooling-off period after any unsuccessful application for a similar role.

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Editorial round — no practice problems.

The day before

Beat-the-Odds reflexes: polygon Markov hitting times, dice gambler's ruin, symmetry 'remove pairs' expectations, coupon-collector sums
Kelly sizing + arbitrage spotting in the betting game
Make-a-market: fair value, credible spread, inventory management
Fermi estimation with calibrated confidence intervals
pandas / time-series fluency for the QR take-home deep-dive

Cheatsheet →

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Practice every firm's OA: timed replicas, free game replicas and guides in one place →

Drill the Optiver practice set (92 problems) → Browse all company playlists →

Optiver round-by-round guides

Optiver interview guide: the firm, culture, roles and pay →

Stage guides for every firm: superdays · behavioral questions · market-making games

Practice each OA module

80 in 8 mental math Beat the Odds Likelihood List Intervals Number Logic Zap-N games

Optiver interview — FAQ

What is the Optiver interview process?

Optiver tests one thing: can you trade? The signature filter: a live betting / market-making game vs a real trader; even Quant Researcher candidates must think like traders. Expect a brutal timed online assessment (sequence puzzles, rapid probability, reaction games), fast mental math, and a famously blunt culture-fit final round. The loop runs 8 stages: Online Assessment, HR / Behavioral Call, Trading / Betting Game (Tech 1 & 2), Cognitive Interview (Career Kickstarter and trading programs), Technical / Brain-Teaser (QR track), Take-Home Data Project + Deep-Dive (QR track), Market-Making Game Day (QT track), Final — Culture-Fit.

How many rounds does Optiver have?

8 stages in total, starting with the Online Assessment and ending with the Final — Culture-Fit.

How do I prepare for the Optiver interview?

Work the stage notes above, then drill the Optiver interview-questions set and the Optiver online-assessment practice — each problem has a full worked solution.