You should know a lot about probability if you want to work at one of those companies or just make an algorithm on the side to show you can. These are some of the questions that the best online trading companies ask, and they should help you decide if you’re ready.
Citadel Securities is one of the leading global market makers executing trades for retail and institutional clients. With its advanced proprietary technologies and abundance of trade data, Citadel Securities plays a key role in providing liquidity across various asset classes.
Given the competitive nature of securing a role at Citadel Securities candidates should expect a rigorous interview process assessing their financial knowledge, analytical abilities, and problem-solving skills.
To help you prepare for your Citadel Securities interviews, we’ve compiled a list of the top 25 most frequently asked questions along with suggested responses.
1. Walk me through your resume and highlight your relevant skills and experience.
Citadel Securities wants to understand your career path and assess the abilities you’ve developed relevant to this opportunity. Focus your response on showcasing your knowledge of financial markets, analytical skills, and any direct trading experience you may have. You can also discuss coursework, internships, or academic projects that equipped you with the foundations to be successful in this role.
Suggested Response: My academic background in finance provided me with core theoretical knowledge about markets and quantitative analysis. Through internships at XYZ bank, I developed hands-on experience supporting trading desks and gained exposure into the workflows and technologies leveraged in a global markets environment. I also led a team project analyzing hedge fund strategies and risk management techniques. Additionally, I have strong analytical skills, having built valuation models and conducted investment research reports. I believe this diverse experience has prepared me well for a trading role at an established firm like Citadel Securities.
2. Why do you want to work at Citadel Securities?
Citadel Securities looks for candidates that have researched the firm and feel aligned with their mission. Convey your interest in their business, values and culture. Share what specifically attracts you besides just needing a job. Demonstrate passion for markets and excitement at the prospect of being part of the Citadel Securities team.
Suggested Response: I am very interested in working for Citadel Securities because I really admire your leadership in market making and commitment to market transparency and integrity. The proprietary technologies you’ve developed are also incredibly impressive to me as someone interested in markets and models. Your meritocratic culture that rewards employees based on contributions rather than tenure also resonates with me. I’m excited by the prospect of working alongside and learning from some of the best minds in trading and analytics. I feel Citadel Securities’ values align well with my personal work ethic, and I’m passionate about starting my career here.
3. What do you know about our company’s history and mission?
This question gauges your interest and knowledge of Citadel Securities’ background. Make sure to visit their website and read up on key milestones, product offerings, leadership principles and any recent news. Convey that you’ve taken the time to learn more about their founding story, evolution, and place in the current market landscape.
Suggested Response: From my research, I understand that Citadel Securities was founded in 2002 and has grown to become a leading global market maker, executing over 26% of U.S. listed retail volume. You utilize advanced proprietary technologies and modeling to provide liquidity across equities, FX, fixed income and derivatives. Your focus on transparency initiatives like TCA reporting demonstrates your commitment to integrity. The company was built on principles of rigorous thinking and diverse perspectives. Citadel Securities has upheld its mission of driving healthier financial markets even during moments of volatility like the 2008 financial crisis. It speaks to the strength of your business model and team.
4. How does our firm make money?
For markets-focused firms like Citadel Securities, it’s crucial that candidates understand the basics of their business model and revenue drivers. In a concise yet comprehensive way, discuss how they make money from the bid-ask spread, trading commissions, and various other liquidity providing strategies across their product lines.
Suggested Response: Citadel Securities generates revenue primarily through the bid-ask spread on trades. As a market maker, you look to buy assets at the bid price and sell at the slightly higher ask price, capturing the spread between. Additional revenue sources include commissions and fees from execution services provided to clients, along with financing activities like securities lending. Proprietary trading and arbitrage strategies also contribute gains. Your advanced data tools allow you to conduct transactions across equities, derivatives and other asset classes millions of times per day, accruing incremental profits that add up due to immense trade volumes. The combination of technology, data and financial engineering expertise has made Citadel Securities highly successful.
5. What do you know about high frequency trading and market making?
Understanding the basics of HFT and market making shows you’ve taken time to learn about key elements of the industry you want to enter. Provide a clear, succinct explanation of HFT and the role of market makers like Citadel Securities in providing liquidity and facilitating price discovery. You can use examples to make it more relatable.
Suggested Response: High frequency trading refers to firms utilizing advanced algorithms and low-latency connectivity to execute large volumes of transactions in fractions of a second. This is done to arbitrage tiny price discrepancies and capture small profits that accumulate. Market makers like Citadel Securities facilitate liquidity and price discovery by providing buy and sell quotes on assets using inventory or capital, aiming to profit off the bid-ask spread. This contrasts with HFTs who don’t commit their own capital but trade in milliseconds based on micro price discrepancies. While differing strategies, both play a key role in driving more efficient markets in today’s highly automated trading landscape.
6. What do you believe are the keys to being a successful trader?
Citadel Securities wants to assess your understanding of the competencies, analytical abilities and temperament required to thrive as a trader in their environment. Response should demonstrate knowledge of trading combined with your personal philosophies on success factors such as risk management, emotional discipline, work ethic, and continuous learning.
Suggested Response: In my opinion, several keys factors contribute to being a successful trader: exceptional quantitative skills to analyze data and spot opportunities; ability to synthesize complex information into actionable decisions; discipline to manage risk and emotions when faced with volatility and uncertainty; drive to continuously improve strategies and learn from mistakes; attention to detail while efficiently managing high workloads; and the resilience to bounce back from losses. I believe my academic foundation in finance, passion for data analysis, resilience and competitive drive make me well suited to thrive in a performance-oriented trading environment like Citadel Securities.
7. How would you value a company? What valuation methods are you familiar with?
Citadel Securities wants to know you have the financial modeling foundation and knowledge to assess the fair value of securities and assets. Discuss valuation methods you have exposure to, such as discounted cash flow, comparable multiples, precedent transactions, and leveraged buyout models. Provide examples of actual valuation work you’ve performed if possible.
Suggested Response: When valuing a company, I would utilize discounted cash flow, trading multiples, precedent transactions and leveraged buyout models to triangulate an appropriate range based on business characteristics and capital structure. For example, I built a DCF model for XYZ company as part of a student investing project, forecasting operating cashflows based on revenue growth projections and capital expenditures. I also analyzed relevant comparable public companies to derive appropriate trading multiples to apply. My valuation assisted the investment team in assessing the IPO price range. This experience provided me hands-on practice in leveraging fundamental analysis to determine equity valuations for investment decisions.
8. Tell me about a trade idea you find interesting right now and how you would trade it?
This assesses your ability to analyze markets and develop investment theses and trading ideas based on your knowledge. Select a current opportunity that fits your experience level. Walk through your thesis, how you’d execute the trade, risk management strategies, and expected outcomes. Keep responses tailored to trading vs. long-term investing strategies.
Suggested Response: I’m currently analyzing upside potential in the solar sector. Rising oil prices, favorable policy incentives, and urgent climate action make me believe solar installation firms are poised for growth. Specifically, I think company XYZ’s partnerships with housing developers and considerable project backlog position them well in the space but are not accounted for in current valuations. To trade on this thesis, I would take a long position in XYZ equity and at the same time purchase out-of-the-money calls expiring in 6-12 months to limit downside while benefiting from price appreciation if my thesis holds. I would also actively hedge by holding some put options to protect against policy changes or demand pullbacks. My target would be to realize a 20-25% return over a 6-12 month period based on my forecast of expansion in XYZ’s operating cashflows and multiples.
9. How do you stay up-to-date on financial markets? What news sources or analysis influences your thinking?
Traders must constantly monitor news, data, and other market developments that impact their trading decisions. Citadel wants to know what information sources you rely on and how they shape your perspective on markets. Discuss news outlets, data sources, commentators, industry research, and other content you follow regularly to give interviewers insight into what drives your thinking.
Suggested Response: I make a habit of following key publications like the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, CNBC along with industry research portals to stay updated on relevant news and analysis. I also have alerts set up on
Jump Trading Interview Questions
A number of interview questions from Jump Trading are available via WallStreetOasis. Some of the most thought-provoking include.
- Im dealing a deck of cards. You can stop it whenever you want, and you win if the next card is red. Which strategy will help you win the most? (They seem to really like this one.)
- There are four balls, two black and two white. You pick two at random and switch their colors. Do this again and again. Do this how many times to make sure all four balls are the same color?
- There are 15 people in the room. What is the chance that two of them have the same birthday?
Citadel Securities Interview Questionss
When it comes to its problems, the electronic trading sister company of hedge fund Citadel is a bit more lofty and/or vague. Some of the most interesting questions from WallStreetOasis are:
- There are 100 prisoners and a room with a lightbulb. Any prisoner can be called in to turn the light on or off. After leaving the room, they have to guess if they were the last of the 100 people to come in. If they’re right, they get away with it; if they’re wrong, everyone fails. Before the game starts, prisoners can talk to each other, but once it starts, they are split up and don’t know who has or hasn’t entered the room yet. What strategy would ensure the prisoners would be successfully released?.
- How could I figure out how much money a company called Peloton makes if I don’t have any information?
Quantitative Researcher Interviews – Andrew, Quantitative Researcher at Citadel
FAQ
How hard is a Citadel interview?
How many rounds of interviews does Citadel have?
Does Citadel Securities pay well?
How long does it take to hear back from Citadel Securities?
What was the interview like at Citadel Securities?
I interviewed at Citadel Securities Phone call with head of futures. Basic discussion with some questions which later were found out to be CFA level three questions about futures. Was rather informal and just one person around a conference table
How long does it take to interview at Citadel Securities?
The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Citadel Securities 5 round on site; 2 technical interviews, 2 behavioral interviews, 1 chat with a head of desk. Be prepared to answer general statistics questions and some market making questions (which may come in the form of games)
How long does it take to get a job at Citadel?
each round is around 50mins, ask some prob stats questions, some coding questions, some resume questions, if you pass a round, you will hear back on the same day, the interview might not care and use their phone, some other interviewer will guide you to answer I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Citadel Securities
Is Citadel a difficult place to interview?
Citadel employs some of the best and brightest minds in the industry. So because of this, Citadel has a reputation for being a difficult place to interview. As a result, candidates face tough and complex questions designed for the sole purpose of testing the candidate’s knowledge, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities.
