Optiver quant interview preparation: a role-specific study guide
Prepare quantitative decisions, execution reasoning and role-specific coding for an Optiver application. Regional recruiting FAQs are the starting point for eligibility and assessment instructions. The exercises below are original SelfMadeQuant practice, rather than reported Optiver questions. Use the exact vacancy and recruiter message to choose the balance of trading, research and engineering preparation.
Begin with the region and role
Optiver publishes separate recruiting information for Sydney, the US and Europe. The Sydney campus FAQ explicitly covers programmes for Australia and New Zealand candidates. The Europe FAQ is a separate source. Do not turn one region's eligibility rules, assessment details or deadlines into a global promise.
Trading practice: speed follows a correct model
Work on fractions, percentages and expected payoffs until you can explain the setup as readily as you can calculate. A fast answer to the wrong event is still wrong. After an error, identify whether the obstacle was arithmetic, a misunderstood condition or an omitted cost. Practise the weak component separately before adding time pressure.
Connect that reasoning to a market. Calculate an average fill across several book levels, then distinguish the quoted price from the achievable price for your whole order. In a market-making game, track position changes and settlement exposure. These are our suggested teaching activities, not a claim about Optiver's proprietary assessments.
Research and engineering practice
For a research role, prepare an experiment with a clearly separated evaluation sample. For engineering, practise choosing a data structure, explaining its complexity and writing tests against a specification. Optiver also publishes software interview tips; read that guidance when applying for technology rather than assuming a trading preparation plan transfers unchanged.
Turn a week into evidence
Use one session for arithmetic accuracy, one for conditional probability and one for execution or coding. In the final session, explain one mistake and the check that would have caught it. Keep a dated record of your reasoning and assumptions. Verify the current assessment instructions before using calculators, notes or external tools in any actual test.
Original practice questions with worked answers
1. A percentage with the correct denominator
A price falls from 100 to 80. What percentage increase returns it to 100?
Answer. The loss was 20%, but the recovery is 20/80 = 25%. Percentage changes use the starting level of each move; equal numerical percentages do not undo each other.
2. An average execution price
The ask side offers 12 shares at 50.10 and 18 at 50.20. What does a 20-share market buy cost before fees?
Answer. Buy 12 at 50.10 and 8 at 50.20. Total spend is 601.20 + 401.60 = 1,002.80, so the average is 50.14. The best ask describes only the first 12 shares.
3. A conditional expected payoff
A fair six-sided die pays its face value. You learn only that it exceeds 3. What is the conditional expected payoff?
Answer. The remaining equally likely values are 4, 5 and 6, so the mean is 5. The condition removes the other outcomes and requires renormalising the probabilities.
Topic practice behind this plan
- 25 probability interview questions with answers
- 25 quant programming and algorithms interview questions with answers
- 25 options and derivatives interview questions with answers
Free practice tools
Primary sources and scope
Employer information was checked on the review date. Our study activities and original questions are editorial suggestions. Recruiting requirements, regional processes and vacancies can change; the employer’s current instructions take priority.