How Optiver Interviews in 2026: Process, Questions & What They Score
The complete process, reported questions, and what interviewers score.
Optiver / Interview snapshot
6
stages from
application to offer
25
reported questions
4-8
weeks, typically
26
public sources
Independent: SupaCV is not affiliated with or endorsed by Optiver. This is one well-documented shape of Optiver's interviews, not a script: processes change and vary by role, team, level, and region, so confirm specifics with your recruiter.
On this page
01 / For every Optiver candidate
The process, start to finish.
Optiver is a proprietary market-making and trading firm, and its interview process is widely and consistently described (across Glassdoor, Wall Street Oasis, and multiple independent quant-prep sites) as unusually quantitative and fast-paced compared to typical finance recruiting. There is no single universal pipeline: the process differs meaningfully by track (Trader, Quantitative Researcher, Software Engineer) and by office/region, but all tracks share a heavy emphasis on timed quantitative/logic assessments early in the funnel, followed by progressively more interactive rounds (live probability problems, market-making simulations, or live coding) and a final onsite/"Optiver Day" with senior staff.
Multiple independent sources describe the total process as commonly taking roughly 4-8 weeks from application to offer for trading and quant-research tracks; software-engineering candidates sometimes move faster (some sources cite as little as 2-4 weeks), largely because the SWE loop has fewer live probability/market-making rounds to schedule.
Because much of the public detail comes from third-party prep sites, Glassdoor/WSO candidate reports, and Optiver's own careers-page blog posts (not a single official "how we hire" document), specifics such as exact test names, pass thresholds, and round counts vary somewhat between sources and should be treated as directionally reliable rather than exact for every candidate.
Stage 1: Application & resume/cover letter screen
Days to ~1-2 weeks for a response
Standard resume and (for many roles) cover-letter review. Multiple sources note Optiver reads cover letters/motivation statements for trading-track roles more closely than is typical at other finance/tech firms.
Stage 2: Online assessment(s)
Ranges widely by role: trading/QR batteries often total ~2-3 hours across modules (sometimes spread over a multi-day window); SWE OAs are commonly described as a single 3-4 hour sitting. Results often returned within a few days.
Role-dependent battery of timed tests, most of which candidates and prep sites now know by name. For trading and quant-research roles this typically includes: '80 in 8' (roughly 80 mental-arithmetic questions in 8 minutes, no calculator), 'Beat the Odds' (a separate, ~15-minute timed probability/expected-value test), a sequence/pattern-recognition test often referred to as 'NumberLogic,' the gamified cognitive battery 'Zap-N' (several short games measuring speed, memory, pattern recognition, and risk calibration, ~60-90 minutes), and the untimed personality/culture-fit questionnaire 'Zap-Q.' Multiple prep sources describe the overall battery as SHL-administered. These are separate tests, not alternate names for one another. For software engineers, the OA is more heavily weighted toward coding: several independent sources describe it as a longer, multi-part assessment (commonly cited as roughly 3-4 hours total) mixing algorithmic/HackerRank-style coding problems, CS-fundamentals multiple choice, and logic/cognitive games, though the coding-only portion alone is sometimes reported as 80-120 minutes. For quantitative researchers, the OA reportedly combines coding, probability/statistics, sequence-completion, and game-based sections across several rounds.
Stage 3: Recruiter/HR behavioral screen
~20-30 minutes
A phone or video call, often 20-30 minutes, with an HR/recruiting representative (sometimes a junior trader for trading-track roles) focused on motivation, communication, and cultural fit rather than technical depth.
Stage 4: Technical/case interview(s)
Each interview commonly 45-90 minutes; 1-2 such rounds before the final stage
One or more interviews with an actual trader, quant researcher, or engineer. For trading/research tracks this typically includes probability brainteasers, mental-math drills, and often an initial market-making exercise (quoting a two-sided market on an unknown/partially revealed quantity while the interviewer trades against the candidate). For quant researcher roles this stage may include statistics (Bayesian updating, hypothesis testing, regression) and coding in Python or C++. For software engineers this stage is 1-2 live coding/technical interviews (data structures/algorithms, OOP design problems, sometimes bit manipulation, networking, or concurrency topics), commonly framed by Optiver's own careers-page guidance as a collaborative design discussion rather than a pure LeetCode exercise, with system-design questions more common for senior hires.
Stage 5: Final round / 'Optiver Day' (onsite or virtual onsite)
Half day to full day, on-site or virtual
A half-day to full-day final round, historically in-office (sometimes run virtually), combining multiple back-to-back interviews: a live/group trading game or market-making simulation where candidates make markets on quantities (e.g., dice outcomes, marbles in an urn, synthetic derivatives) and trade against interviewers or other candidates, additional probability/behavioral interviews, and for quant-research candidates specifically, a take-home or presented research assignment. Senior traders or engineers typically conduct this stage and assess composure, decision-making under pressure, and cultural fit.
Stage 6: Decision / offer
Days to ~1-2 weeks after the final round
Final hiring decision, sometimes with an additional short confirmation call. Total process length across all stages is commonly cited as roughly 4-8 weeks for trading/QR tracks (some SWE candidates report 2-4 weeks), though this varies by role, region, and scheduling.
Reported interview time, one scale in minutes
Where the minutes go
- Recruiter/HR behavioral screen~20 to 30 min
- Technical/case interview45 to 90 min
Not drawn: Application & resume/cover letter screen, Online assessment, Final round / 'Optiver Day' and Decision / offer, whose durations are not given in minutes.
02 / What Optiver scores
The framework.
No publicly documented named framework (e.g., no Amazon-style 'leadership principles' list)
01
Numbers-oriented mindset / pattern-finding under complexity: from Optiver's own 'What does Optiver value' careers page, which describes seeking 'people who find patterns in complexity, challenge what they see and use numbers as a common language for better decisions'
02
Problem-solving in one of the 'most complex and competitive' market environments: also from Optiver's own careers-culture page
03
Continuous professional development / growth orientation: reflected in Optiver's careers-page material on its Global Optiver Academy, structured onboarding, and mentorship model
04
Collaboration, transparency, and intellectual curiosity: an exact phrase used on Optiver's own software-engineer interview-tips page
05
Composure under pressure and sound decision-making with incomplete information: a recurring theme across multiple independent prep sources and candidate reports, not language found in an official Optiver document
Optiver does not publish a named, itemized competency framework analogous to Amazon's Leadership Principles or McKinsey's PEI. What is documented comes directly from Optiver's own careers/culture pages (which describe a 'numbers-oriented mindset,' collaboration, transparency, and intellectual curiosity) plus a consistent pattern, repeated across independent prep sites and candidate reports rather than an official list, that interviewers are evaluating mental-math speed, probability/quantitative fluency, market-making intuition, and composure/temperament under pressure.
Treat the 'evaluation framework' here as inferred and cross-corroborated, not an official Optiver document, and expect it to be emphasized somewhat differently role to role (trading vs. research vs. engineering).
03 / Coach's notes
Coach's tips.
01
Drill mental arithmetic daily before applying. Optiver's trading/quant-research online assessment is actually a battery of several separate, specifically named timed tests, not one test with multiple nicknames: '80 in 8' (80 arithmetic questions in 8 minutes, no calculator), 'Beat the Odds' (a separate timed probability test), a sequence test often called 'NumberLogic,' plus the gamified 'Zap-N' battery and the untimed 'Zap-Q' personality questionnaire. By multiple independent accounts, roughly 4 in 5 applicants don't clear the arithmetic stage on their first attempt. Practice fractions, percentages, and decimal conversions until they're near-automatic; you need a score above roughly 55/80 to pass and 70+ to be genuinely competitive.
02
Treat every probability or market-making prompt as a live trade, not a math homework problem: state a two-sided quote (bid/ask) quickly, explain your reasoning out loud, and visibly update your price as new information (e.g., revealed cards) arrives. Interviewers are watching your process and composure at least as much as the final number.
03
For the behavioral/fit rounds, prepare STAR-format stories specifically about being wrong and recovering: candidate reports and interview-prep sources consistently flag a variant of 'tell me about a time you were confident and wrong' or a costly mistake as a recurring Optiver question. Emphasize what you changed in your thinking, not just the outcome; multiple independent sources describe this as probing whether you 'tilt' after a loss or reset and refocus, though that's the prep-community's read on the intent, not an official Optiver statement.
04
For trading-track roles, be ready to justify why trading specifically (vs. quant research or engineering); this is a recurring, near-universal question and generic 'I like markets' answers are reported to fall flat.
05
For software engineer and quant researcher candidates, brush up on core CS fundamentals (data structures/complexity, OOP design, concurrency/memory basics) and be ready to reason about system constraints (latency, load) out loud: Optiver's own SWE interview-tips page says it wants to see how you break down complexity and communicate your reasoning, more than whether you already know a memorized trick. Also budget real time for the SWE online assessment: independent sources describe it as a substantial 3-4 hour, multi-part battery (coding plus CS-fundamentals plus logic games), not a quick 60-90 minute test.
06
Budget roughly 4-8 weeks end-to-end for trading and quant-research tracks (software engineering can move faster, sometimes 2-4 weeks) and expect the process to compress once you clear the initial online assessment (results often come back within days, phone screens scheduled within about a week). Don't let scheduling gaps lull you into under-preparing for the final onsite/'Optiver Day,' which is the most math- and simulation-intensive stage.
04 / The research
Where this page comes from.
Compiled from public sources across 15 sites. Optiver's own page is among them: optiver.com/working-at-optiver/career-hub/optiver-interview-tips-f….
- sites
- 15
- coaching and prep guides
- 20
- candidate reports and forums
- 4
- Optiver's own pages
- 2
Source composition
Where the research comes from
Grouped by the kind of site that published each source: Optiver's own domain, candidate forums, and everything else.
- Coaching and prep guides20
- Candidate reports and forums4
- Optiver's own pages2
05 / The questions
Reported questions, by category.
Showing questions for
Roles are grouped by the category each question fits, not by the source.
Software engineering: coding & CS fundamentals
(for SWE-track candidates)
5 questions
LeetCode-style data-structure and algorithm problems (easy to medium/hard), with recurring emphasis reported on heaps, queues, and circular-buffer-style structures relevant to low-latency systems.
LeetCode-style problems with emphasis on heaps, queues, and circular buffers relevant to low-latency systems.
Object-oriented design problems, e.g., designing a simplified shopping/register system or a task scheduler.
Tests object-oriented design on a small system such as a shopping register or task scheduler.
Lower-level topics: bit manipulation, basic networking concepts, memory management, and concurrency reasoning.
Tests low-level fundamentals: bit manipulation, networking basics, memory management, and concurrency reasoning.
System-design style prompts for more experienced candidates, e.g., designing a market-data feed system that ingests and processes real-time prices, expected to touch on data processing, notification/API layers, and storage.
System design: a real-time market-data feed; tests ingestion, processing, notification layers, and storage.
General 'how do you think about tradeoffs' follow-ups (e.g., choosing data structures for latency-sensitive code). Optiver's own SWE interview-tips page states it wants to see how you break down complexity and reason out loud, not whether you already know a memorized trick.
Tests tradeoff reasoning, such as data-structure choice for latency-sensitive code; reason out loud.
Reported problems, listed so you know what to expect. Practice them in your own editor or on the platform you prefer; SupaCV's practice mode coaches how you talk through them.
Probability, expected value & brainteasers
5 questions
Timed probability/expected-value questions in the 'Beat the Odds' format, often multiple choice with approximate answer bands rather than exact values.
Timed probability and expected-value questions; tests fast EV computation against approximate answer bands.
Dice and coin-flip probability problems (e.g., expected number of rolls to see a specific outcome, or probability of a compound event).
Tests dice and coin probability: expected rolls to reach an outcome and compound event probabilities.
Conditional probability and Bayesian-updating problems (updating a belief about a hidden quantity as partial information is revealed).
Tests conditional probability and Bayesian updating as partial information is revealed.
Classic brainteasers commonly used across quant-trading interviews generally (Monty Hall variants, gambler's-ruin style problems, simple martingale setups). These are standard prep material rather than confirmed Optiver-original questions, so treat them as good practice, not guaranteed prompts.
Classic quant brainteasers: Monty Hall variants, gambler's ruin, and simple martingale setups; standard prep material.
'I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100: make me a market on it' style prompts requiring a stated bid/ask spread and justification.
Market-making prompt; tests quoting a bid/ask around your estimate and justifying the spread width.
Reported problems, listed so you know what to expect. Practice them in your own editor or on the platform you prefer; SupaCV's practice mode coaches how you talk through them.
Every role
Mental math & speed arithmetic
4 questions
Timed arithmetic drills in the '80 in 8' format: rapid-fire addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percentage, and fraction problems with no calculator and only seconds per question.
Quick percentage/fraction conversions performed verbally on the spot during live interviews (e.g., 'what's 17/34 as a percent, fast').
Separately, sequence/pattern-recognition problems (the 'NumberLogic'-style test): given a series of numbers, identify the pattern and predict the next value under time pressure.
On-the-spot mental math embedded inside a market-making exercise: recalculating fair value quickly as new information (e.g., a revealed card) changes the picture.
Every role
Market-making & trading simulations
4 questions
Quote a two-sided market (bid and ask) on a hidden quantity such as the sum of several face-down cards, then adjust prices as the interviewer trades against you and more cards are revealed.
Live market-making simulation; tests updating fair value and quotes as cards are revealed and trades fill.
Make markets on constructed payoffs such as the median of three dice, the number of red marbles in an urn, or the value of a simple synthetic derivative, while interviewers or other candidates trade against your quotes.
Tests pricing constructed payoffs (median of dice, marbles in an urn) and quoting while others trade against you.
Live group trading-game rounds during the final 'Optiver Day,' where multiple candidates simultaneously quote and trade against each other while being observed for composure and adjustment speed.
Group trading game; tests composure, quote adjustment speed, and risk management under live competition.
Follow-up discussion questions probing why you set a particular spread, and how/why you would move your price after a trade fills.
Tests whether you can articulate why you set a spread and how a fill should move your price.
Reported problems, listed so you know what to expect. Practice them in your own editor or on the platform you prefer; SupaCV's practice mode coaches how you talk through them.
Every role
Behavioral & motivational fit
7 questions
Tell me about a time you were confident and wrong. (Widely and consistently reported by candidates and prep sources as a recurring Optiver question, used to probe whether you 'tilt' after a mistake or reset and refocus; this framing comes from third-party interview-prep analysis of candidate reports, not an official Optiver statement.)
Why trading (or this specific track: trading vs. quant research vs. engineering) rather than another path?
Describe a high-pressure situation you faced and how you handled it.
Tell me about your biggest professional (or academic) failure and what you took from it.
Tell me about a time you had to learn or master something completely new very quickly.
Describe a time you had to adapt your approach based on new information mid-project.
Tell me about a time you worked as part of a team toward a shared goal. What was your specific contribution?
Your next step
Interviewing at Optiver?
Make sure your resume gets you to the first round.
Practicing for Optiver against your resume is in Interview Prep on Career.
Common questions
Quick answers.
How many stages are in Optiver's interview process?
Optiver has 6 stages, set out in The process.
What framework does Optiver use to evaluate candidates?
The framework behind Optiver's evaluation is set out in What Optiver scores.
What kinds of questions does Optiver ask?
Optiver's questions fall into 5 categories, grouped in The questions.
How reliable is this Optiver interview playbook?
It is compiled from public sources, and the evidence is in The research.
Sources (26)
Every public source this page was compiled from. Links open in a new tab.
15 sites, by sources
- glassdoor.com4
- everythingquant.com3
- quantprep.io3
- wallstreetoasis.com2
- techinterview.org2
- interviewquery.com2
- optiver.com2
- quantblueprint.com1
- quantt.co.uk1
- tradermath.org1
- jobtestprep.com1
- spacecomplexity.ai1
- datainterview.com1
- techprep.app1
- testhq.com1
- 01wallstreetoasis.com/company/optiver/interview
- 02wallstreetoasis.com/forum/trading/optiver-interview-process
- 03glassdoor.com/Interview/Optiver-Interview-Questions-E243355.htm
- 04glassdoor.com/Interview/Optiver-Trader-Interview-Questions-EI_IE2433…
- 05glassdoor.com/Interview/Optiver-Graduate-Quantitative-Trader-Intervi…
- 06glassdoor.com/Interview/Optiver-Software-Engineer-Interview-Question…
- 07techinterview.org/companies/optiver-interview-guide
- 08techinterview.org/post/3233476019/optiver-trading-game-rounds
- 09everythingquant.com/guides/quantitative-trading-at-optiver
- 10everythingquant.com/guides/quantitative-research-at-optiver
- 11everythingquant.com/guides/software-engineering-at-optiver
- 12interviewquery.com/interview-guides/optiver
- 13interviewquery.com/interview-guides/optiver-software-engineer
- 14quantblueprint.com/guides/how-to-get-a-job-at-optiver
- 15quantt.co.uk/resources/optiver-interview
- 16tradermath.org/knowledge-base/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-optiver-inter…
- 17quantprep.io/mental_math_optiver_intro
- 18quantprep.io/probability_optiver_intro
- 19quantprep.io/sequences_optiver_intro
- 20jobtestprep.com/optiver-test
- 21optiver.com/working-at-optiver/career-hub/optiver-interview-tips-f…
- 22optiver.com/working-at-optiver/career-hub/what-does-optiver-value
- 23spacecomplexity.ai/blog/optiver-behavioral-interview-questions
- 24datainterview.com/blog/optiver-quantitative-researcher-interview
- 25techprep.app/blog/optiver-interview-process
- 26testhq.com/blog/optiver-shl-test
Related reading
- STAR, XYZ, or CAR: Which Resume Bullet Formula Actually Works?STAR, XYZ and CAR all collapse to the same bullet in practice, why "quantify everything" is more contested than it sounds, and the one modern use of STAR that actually earns its keep.
- Is the One-Page Resume Rule Real?Where the one-page rule actually comes from, what recruiters say about it in practice, and a tiered way to think about length instead of a fixed cap.
How similar companies interview
Compare Optiver's process with other Quant Trading & Hedge Funds companies in this playbook: