How trading firm interviews differ: Jane Street, SIG, DRW, Citadel Securities and more

Which trading firms screen with speed tests and which with open problems, what Jane Street, SIG, DRW, Citadel Securities and IMC ask, and how to prepare. 6 min readUpdated 11 November 2026By the Prepper team

Trading firms fall into two broad styles. Some screen for speed with arithmetic tests; others give you fewer, harder problems and watch how you reason. Preparing for the wrong style is the most common mistake.

Speed-first firms

Optiver, Flow Traders, Maven, All Options, Akuna, Da Vinci and Mako start with timed arithmetic and sequence tests. See trading maths tests compared.

Reasoning-first firms

Jane Street: usually no online test for trading roles. Phone interviews with probability, estimation and market-making questions, where talking through your reasoning matters more than speed.
Susquehanna (SIG): a problem-solving assessment of 17 questions in 60 minutes on probability, expected value, combinatorics, Bayes and logic.
DRW: a 45-minute at-home challenge with about six open questions on probability, Markov chains and linear algebra.
Citadel Securities: an assessment on advanced probability and statistics, then interviews on stochastic processes and market intuition.
Wincent: a 100-minute assessment of 12 open-ended probability and expected-value problems.

In between

IMC: a cognitive games battery (task switching, reaction, memory), then maths and probability with traders.
Chicago Trading Company: a cognitive aptitude test under a tight clock.
Hudson River Trading and Jump Trading: probability and statistics plus coding, with a research flavour.

How to prepare for each style

Speed. Ten minutes of mental maths a day for three weeks; learn the scoring rule of your test.

Reasoning. Work through expected-value and conditional-probability problems on paper, then explain each solution aloud. Practise saying what you would do before you calculate.

Market making. For every estimate, practise giving a two-sided quote, updating it when someone trades with you, and explaining why. See how to make a market.

Common to all

Honest reasoning beats bluffing. Interviewers give hints; taking a hint well is part of the test.

Frequently asked questions

Does Jane Street have an online maths test?
Usually not for trading roles. The process relies on phone and on-site interviews with probability and market-making questions.
Which trading firms are hardest to get into?
All are highly selective. The difference is in what they test: speed tests filter on arithmetic, while reasoning-first firms filter on probability and judgement.

Does Jane Street have an online maths test?

Usually not for trading roles. The process relies on phone and on-site interviews with probability and market-making questions.

Which trading firms are hardest to get into?

All are highly selective. The difference is in what they test: speed tests filter on arithmetic, while reasoning-first firms filter on probability and judgement.