Optiver Interview Questions

Optiver Interview Questions

Practice 83 real Optiver interview questions for 2026. This Optiver interview questions collection is designed for interview preparation and includes real questions from actual interviews with detailed solutions. Lean heavily on coding and systems thinking: expect Coding & Algorithms and System Design problems first, then Statistics & Math, Behavioral & Leadership, and Analytics & Experimentation. For Software Engineer roles (the bulk of our set) recurring themes include designing low‑latency trading infrastructure and queue/data‑structure problems (circular and object‑oriented queues), algorithmic optimization and backtesting of trading strategies, and fast probabilistic/expectation calculations under time pressure. Data Scientist interviews concentrate on probability and expectation puzzles, sequence and pattern‑detection in streams, optimization puzzles (min‑moves, transforming layouts), and communicating statistical tradeoffs to traders. Use this set to simulate timed mental math and whiteboard coding, rehearse system tradeoffs that prioritize latency and correctness, and build clear STAR stories for behavioral loops.

83 Questions 1 Company07.23.2026
Showing 20 results
Role
Optiver logo
Optiver
Hard
Software EngineerIntern

Design an Event-Driven CPU Overheat Controller

Design an Event-Driven CPU Overheat Controller Design an OverheatPreventionController that simulates multiple processor cores without physical sensors...

Software Engineering Fundamentals
214
0
2009 people solved
Jul 2, 2026
Optiver logo
Optiver
Hard
Software EngineerSenior+

Design a News Subscription Processing Engine

Design a news subscription processing engine with four core capabilities: receive a news item, add a subscription, remove a subscription, and publish ...

Software Engineering Fundamentals
9
0
147 people solved
Jul 19, 2026
Optiver logo
Optiver
Medium
Software Engineer

Design a Multi-Level Expiring Item Store

Design a Multi-Level Expiring Item Store Design a class with initialization, store, and retrieve operations for items placed into ordered storage leve...

Software Engineering Fundamentals
2
0
23 people solved
Jul 23, 2026
Optiver logo
Optiver
Hard
Software EngineerIntern Locked

Design low-latency trading infrastructure

This question evaluates understanding of low-latency trading system architecture, networking and protocol trade-offs (TCP/IP vs UDP), time synchroniza...

System Design
142
0
1698 people solved
Dec 5, 2025
Optiver logo
Optiver
Hard
Software EngineerIntern

Answer why SWE and why Optiver

Behavioral Interview: SWE Intern at a Proprietary Trading Firm You are interviewing for a Software Engineer internship at a high-frequency / proprieta...

Behavioral & Leadership
83
0
703 people solved
Dec 5, 2025
Optiver logo
Optiver
Medium
Software Engineer Locked

Maintain Price Levels For A Single-Symbol Order Book

Review a single-symbol order book implementation prompt with insert, modify, cancel, and price-level lookup callbacks. The interview topic focuses on ...

Coding & Algorithms
83
4
802 people solved
Jun 26, 2026
Optiver logo
Optiver
Hard
Software Engineer

Design a topic-based news subscription system

Topic-Based News Subscription Service — Design and Implementation Context Build an in-memory service that manages subscribers and delivers relevant ne...

System Design
69
0
1217 people solved
Sep 6, 2025
Optiver logo
Optiver
Hard
Software EngineerNew Grad

Reviewing a Freight-Scheduler Codebase: Bugs, Data Structures, and Concurrency

You have just finished implementing process_order(...) inside a large provided codebase for a freight-scheduling system (this is the review stage of a...

Software Engineering Fundamentals
15
0
185 people solved
Nov 16, 2025
Optiver logo
Optiver
Medium
Software Engineer

Plan for timed probability assessment

Timed Probability/Statistics Assessment Strategy Company: Optiver · Role: Software Engineer You are taking a timed online assessment of 30 probability...

Statistics & Math
94
0
745 people solved
Sep 6, 2025
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Optiver
Medium
Software Engineer

Design a balloon stability tracker

Implement a class BalloonFestival to manage hot-air balloons and wind fields over time, and to report rewarded balloons at inspection times. Methods a...

Coding & Algorithms
67
0
749 people solved
Sep 6, 2025
Optiver logo
Optiver
Medium
Software Engineer

Optiver Beat The Odds: Five Rapid-Fire Probability Brainteasers (Dice, Cards, Coins, Pigeonhole)

You are taking a timed online quantitative assessment (in the style of Optiver's "Beat The Odds" test). It consists of rapid-fire probability question...

Software Engineering Fundamentals
21
0
285 people solved
Dec 18, 2025
Optiver logo
Optiver
Hard
Software Engineer

Analyze an Unfair-Coin Bankroll Game

A player starts with a bankroll of 10. Each round, a biased coin is heads with probability 0.6 and tails with probability 0.4. On heads the bankroll i...

Statistics & Math
1
0
8 people solved
May 24, 2026
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Optiver
Hard
Software Engineer

Calculate the Probability That Two Dice Sum to Seven

Roll two independent fair six-sided dice. What is the probability that their sum is 7? Show the sample space and favorable outcomes. Then explain why ...

Statistics & Math
0
0
8 people solved
May 24, 2026
Optiver logo
Optiver
Hard
Software Engineer

Design a subscription push service

Design a subscription push service Object-Oriented Design: Publish/Subscribe Notification Service Design an object-oriented publish/subscribe notifica...

System Design
90
0
654 people solved
Jul 17, 2025
Optiver logo
Optiver
Hard
Software Engineer

Design a satellite propagation simulator

Design a satellite propagation simulator Object-Oriented SatelliteNetwork: Message Propagation Simulator Design and implement an object-oriented Satel...

System Design
51
0
400 people solved
Jul 16, 2025
Optiver logo
Optiver
Hard
Software Engineer

Find the Color Probability After Discarding Cards

A standard 52-card deck has 26 red and 26 black cards and is uniformly shuffled. Discard the first 10 cards without observing their identities. What i...

Statistics & Math
0
0
7 people solved
May 24, 2026
Optiver logo
Optiver
Medium
Software EngineerIntern

Optiver SWE Intern HR Screen: Project Deep Dive — Hardest Parts, What You'd Do Differently, and Questions to Ask

You are on a 20–30 minute recruiter (HR) phone screen for a Software Engineering Intern position at Optiver, a high-frequency trading firm. The call s...

Behavioral & Leadership
22
0
187 people solved
Jul 22, 2025
Optiver logo
Optiver
Medium
Software Engineer

Solve numeric sequence pattern puzzles

Sequence Pattern Puzzles This is a timed pattern-recognition section of the kind used on quantitative-trading aptitude tests. You are given five indep...

Statistics & Math
64
0
434 people solved
Aug 13, 2025
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Optiver
Easy
Data Scientist

Compute probabilities and expectations in random processes

This is a rapid-fire probability and expectation round: a sequence of short, self-contained brain-teasers solved on a whiteboard. The interviewer expe...

Statistics & Math
23
0
284 people solved
Nov 19, 2025
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Optiver
Hard
Data Scientist Locked

How to rank statements by likelihood

This question evaluates proficiency in data interpretation, probabilistic reasoning, and statistical literacy for ranking statement likelihoods from v...

Machine Learning
14
0
154 people solved
Feb 3, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

How difficult are Optiver interview questions for Software Engineer and Data Scientist roles?
Optiver interview questions are challenging and time-pressured, with a heavy quantitative and problem-solving emphasis. Expect questions that test algorithmic rigor, low-latency engineering intuition, and fast probabilistic reasoning rather than long, open-ended design essays. Data scientist rounds skew toward probability, expectation, and pattern-detection puzzles that must be solved accurately under time constraints. The 83 Optiver interview questions represented here reflect that mix: many are medium-to-hard algorithmic or probability problems that reward clear assumptions, efficient solutions, and concise explanations rather than brute force or long code. Preparation must be deliberate and simulation-driven.
What is the typical Optiver interview process and where do these questions appear?
The Optiver funnel usually begins with an online assessment or cognitive test, followed by a short technical screen and then multi-round onsite or virtual interviews. Coding and algorithmic problems show up in the early technical screens and the software engineering rounds, while timed probability puzzles and sequence detection exercises appear in cognitive and data scientist interviews. Senior or system-focused roles include architecture conversations that probe low-latency tradeoffs and data models. Behavioral and fit conversations run alongside technical rounds to evaluate ownership, communication, and trading-alignment. Expect tightly timed, focused interviews rather than long exploratory sessions.
How should I structure my preparation timeline for Optiver interviews?
Plan a 6–8 week structured timeline if you have time: start with core algorithm practice and data structures, add timed probability and expectation drills in weeks two to four, and introduce low-latency design thinking and backtesting problem work in the middle weeks. In the final two weeks, do end-to-end mock interviews that mirror real timings and mix problem types, then review mistakes and simplify explanations. If you have less time, prioritize timed practice, mental math, and 15–30 minute coding drills that force concise, testable solutions. Regularly simulate pressure to build speed and clarity.
Which key subtopics do the 83 Optiver interview questions cover?
These questions concentrate first on coding and algorithmic problem solving, then on quantitative reasoning and puzzles. For software engineers you will see circular queue and general queue data-structure design, low-latency trading infrastructure and backtesting strategy questions, tradeoffs between object-oriented and performance-oriented implementations, plus fast pattern and numeric-sequence detection and probability-expectation computations. For data scientists the recurring themes are probability and expectation problems, sequence-rule detection and streaming pattern matching, optimization puzzles such as minimal-move transforms, and program-equivalence reasoning under time pressure.
What are standout preparation tips and common pitfalls to avoid for Optiver interviews?
Practice under realistic time pressure and verbalize assumptions early; Optiver values concise thinking and clear tradeoffs. Prioritize mental math, small worked examples, and writing correct, testable code quickly rather than perfecting micro-optimizations prematurely. For probability problems, check edge cases and derive expectations stepwise; for engineering problems, state latency and memory constraints and justify design choices. Common pitfalls are poor communication of assumptions, overcomplicating simple heuristics, failing to test with quick examples, and ignoring performance considerations in designs. Mock interviews that mix coding, puzzles, and behavioral questions reduce these risks.

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