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.
"I got asked a hardcore MCM DP question and I saw it on PracHub as well. Solved that question in 5 minutes. Without PracHub I doubt I could solve it in 5 hours. Though somehow didn't get hired, perhaps I guess I solved it too fast? /s"
"Believe me i'm a student here jn US. Recently interviewed for MSFT. They asked me exact question from PracHub. I saw it the night before and ignored it cause why waste time on random sites. I legit wanna go back and redo this whole thing if I had chance. Not saying will work for everyone but there is certainly some merit to that website. And i'm gonna use it in future prep from now on like lc tagged"
"10 years of experience but never worked at a top company. PracHub's senior-level questions helped me break into FAANG at 35. Age is just a number."
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"I've used LC, Glassdoor, and random Discords. Nothing comes close to the accuracy here. The questions are actually current — that's what got me. Felt like I had a cheat sheet during the interview."
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"Legit the only resource you need. TC went from 180k -> 350k. Just memorize the top 50 for your target company and you're golden."
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"Literally just signed a $600k offer. I only had 2 weeks to prep, so I focused entirely on the company-tagged lists here. If you're targeting L5+, don't overthink it."
"Coaches and bootcamp prep courses cost around $200-300 but PracHub Premium is actually less than a Netflix subscription. And it landed me a $178K offer."
"I honestly don't know how you guys gather so many real interview questions. It's almost scary. I walked into my Amazon loop and recognized 3 out of 4 problems from your database."
"Discovered PracHub 10 days before my interview. By day 5, I stopped being nervous. By interview day, I was actually excited to show what I knew."
"I recently cleared Uber interviews (strong hire in the design round) and all the questions were present in prachub."
"The search is what sold me. I typed in a really niche DP problem I got asked last year and it actually came up, full breakdown and everything. These guys are clearly updating it constantly."
Calculate Days Between Arbitrary Gregorian Dates
Calculate the absolute number of days between arbitrary valid Gregorian dates without enumerating each day or relying on a limited date library. Accou...
Find the Probability That the Three Smallest Dice Sum to Three
Roll four independent fair six-sided dice. Sort the four results and sum the three smallest values. What is the probability that this sum equals 3? De...
Introduce yourself and justify quant research fit
Behavioral Prompt: Self-Intro, Motivation, and High-Stakes Decision You are interviewing for a Software Engineer role in a quantitative trading resear...
Design an object-oriented queue and compare implementations
Design an object-oriented queue and compare implementations You are asked to design an object-oriented Queue abstraction and discuss how it can be imp...
Solve quick probability questions
Rapid-Fire Probability Questions You are in a timed quantitative screen. Answer each of the following independent probability questions, ideally in we...
Design and backtest a trading strategy
Minute-Level Mean-Reversion Strategy: Design, Backtest, Validation, and Significance Context You are given minute-level OHLCV data (open, high, low, c...
Explain OS processes, threads, and memory
Explain OS processes, threads, and memory Explain core operating system concepts: processes vs threads, context switching, and scheduling (preemptive ...
Market-Making Estimation Game: Optimal Confidence-Interval Strategy Over 5 Rounds
You are interviewing with a proprietary trading firm, and one of the rounds is a market-making game played over 5 rounds. In each round, the interview...
Analyze EV, arbitrage, and bet sizing across games
Betting Games: EV, Variance, Arbitrage, and Sizing Context You will be shown payout tables or odds for three independent games. Your task is to quickl...
Detect Currency Arbitrage After a Cycle Fee
Detect Currency Arbitrage After a Cycle Fee You are given a matrix of positive currency exchange rates, where rates[i][j] units of currency j are rece...
Count Bounded Buy-and-Sell Sequences
Count Bounded Buy-and-Sell Sequences You start with k shares. On each transaction day, you either buy one share or sell one share, but holdings may ne...
Build and Validate a Binary Tree from Parent-Child Pairs
Build and Validate a Binary Tree from Parent-Child Pairs You are given a single input string that is supposed to describe a binary tree as a sequence ...
Find patterns in numeric sequences quickly
Pattern-Finding Number Sequences (No Calculator) In a fast technical screen, identify the next term for each sequence and briefly explain the rule you...
Implement a Level-Aware Expiring Inventory Store
Implement an inventory store with levels, weights, timestamps, and expiration. store adds an item. retrieve(timestamp) returns and removes the highest...
Thread-Safe Stock Inventory: Buy and Sell Without Overselling
Thread-Safe Stock Inventory: Buy and Sell Without Overselling You are implementing the inventory-management core of a small brokerage service. The ser...
Quant Trading Game: Expected-Value Betting and Market Making on Coins, Dice, and Cards
Quant Trading Game: Expected-Value Betting and Market Making on Coins, Dice, and Cards You are playing a live, 30-minute trading game against the inte...
Answer English HR classics
Answer English HR classics Behavioral Interview: Data Scientist (Technical Screen) Context: You are interviewing for a Data Scientist role at Optiver ...
Find next terms in sequences
Pattern Recognition: Find the Rule and Next Term You are given 8 number sequences. For each sequence: - Identify a clear rule that generates the terms...
Expected Waiting Time for a Bus on a 10-Minute Schedule (and With Random Delays)
A bus route serves your stop on a fixed schedule: a bus is scheduled to arrive exactly every 10 minutes, around the clock. You walk to the stop at a r...
Solve probability and expectation problems
Probability and Expectation Practice (Take‑home) Assume all coins and dice are fair unless stated otherwise. Show reasoning and final results. 1) Thre...