The Optiver Trading / Betting Game interview is stage 3 of 8 in the Optiver interview process, after the HR / Behavioral Call. Format: 25–45 min · interactive · 1-on-1 with a trader. Signature filter for BOTH QT and QR.
Preparing for this round? Practice the 67 questions mapped to the Optiver Trading / Betting Game, with worked solutions. A free account saves your progress.
What the Trading / Betting Game tests
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.
QuantVault maps 67 practice problems to this round. By topic, the biggest groups are expectation (53), game theory (9), market microstructure (5); by difficulty, 15 easy, 37 medium and 15 hard. 29 of them were reported by candidates who interviewed at Optiver, most recently in Feb 2026.
How to prepare for the Trading / Betting Game
- Hunt for arbitrage. When the offered odds across complementary events imply a total probability under 100%, you can split stakes to lock a riskless profit. Catch it fast (it's often disallowed once you've used it once).
- Make a market like a market maker. Quote a fair value, put a credible spread around it, and widen the spread with uncertainty and adverse selection. Manage your inventory as fills come in.
- Narrate your reasoning. The trader is grading how you think under pressure far more than the final number — say what you see and why you're sizing the way you are.
Further reading: Market-making game interview guide · Behavioral questions at trading firms · How quant superdays work.
Question types in this round
The 3 largest question types in the Optiver Trading / Betting Game practice set; across them the most common sub-topics are expected value, discrete probability, conditional probability, first-passage and stopping times, symmetry, independence. The questions themselves, with worked solutions, are in the round practice.
Expectation53 in this round
Game Theory9 in this round
Market Microstructure5 in this round
Common mistakes
- Size by edge, not by gut. Bet more on fat edges, a dab on thin ones, and never so much that one bad beat wrecks the bankroll — roughly fractional Kelly. Verbalize the EV of each bet.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the Optiver Trading / Betting Game interview?
It is stage 3 of 8 in the Optiver interview process, after the HR / Behavioral Call. Format: 25–45 min · interactive · 1-on-1 with a trader. 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).
How long is the Optiver Trading / Betting Game interview?
Candidates report: 25–45 min · interactive · 1-on-1 with a trader.
What questions come up in the Optiver Trading / Betting Game interview?
The practice set QuantVault maps to this round centers on expectation, game theory, market microstructure.
How should I prepare for the Optiver Trading / Betting Game interview?
Hunt for arbitrage. When the offered odds across complementary events imply a total probability under 100%, you can split stakes to lock a riskless profit. Catch it fast (it's often disallowed once you've used it once). Make a market like a market maker. Quote a fair value, put a credible spread around it, and widen the spread with uncertainty and adverse selection. Manage your inventory as fills come in.
What comes after the Trading / Betting Game?
The Cognitive Interview (stage 4 of 8). Format: 45-60 min · Zoom with a trader · Optiver Assessment Platform.
Practice the Optiver Trading / Betting Game round
Work the 67 mapped practice problems with progress tracking, then move to the next stage of the Optiver funnel.