Market Making Game
Set bid/ask spreads, manage adverse selection, and learn the core skill tested at Optiver, Jane Street, and IMC. Used in real quant interviews.
How it works
Market Making Tips
Master the concepts behind market making
Read our guide to market making or practice the interview questions tested at Optiver and IMC.
Why quant firms test market making
Market making is the core business model of firms like Optiver, Jane Street, and IMC Trading. When you interview at these firms, they need to know you can think like a market maker under pressure — setting prices quickly, managing risk, and profiting from spreads even when counterparties have more information than you.
In a typical “give me a market” interview question, you are asked to quote a bid and ask price on something random — the sum of two dice, the number of windows in the Empire State Building, the temperature in London next Tuesday. The interviewer then acts as a counterparty and tries to adversely select you. Your job is to set a spread wide enough to stay profitable but narrow enough to be competitive.
The game above simulates this exact dynamic. A fair die will be rolled, but the counterparty is slightly informed — they know whether the value is likely to be high or low. Your goal is to set prices that earn the spread while protecting against adverse selection.
How to maximize your score
For a fair die, the expected value is 3.5. Start your market centered here: bid 2.75, ask 4.25 gives a spread of 1.5.
A tighter spread earns more per trade but exposes you to more adverse selection. Find the spread that maximizes P&L over 10 rounds.
If you are unsure about the distribution, widen your spread. A spread that loses you 0.5 on bad trades but earns 1.5 on good ones is net positive.
Firms that test market making
The Optiver interview almost always includes a market making round. Interviewers will ask you to quote markets on unusual quantities and probe your reasoning on spread width.
Jane Street trading interviews include interactive games and market making simulations. They test whether you can reason about expected value in real time.
IMC focuses heavily on market making fundamentals. Expect questions about bid-ask spreads, adverse selection, and inventory management in both OA and on-site rounds.
As a major market maker in equities and options, Citadel Securities tests market making intuition at every level of the interview process.
Master Market Making
Learn advanced strategies, real interview examples, and techniques to maximize your P&L in trading simulations. Important reading for Optiver, Jane Street, and IMC interviews.
Read the Complete Guide →