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Top 100 IMC Interview Questions

Questions sourced from IMC quant mentors and our wonderful student community

✓ Real interview questions✓ All difficulty levels✓ 100 questions total
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About IMC Trading

IMC is a leading global market maker, using algorithmic trading and advanced technology to provide liquidity to financial markets. Founded in Amsterdam in 1989, IMC has grown to become one of the most respected trading firms worldwide.

The IMC interview process is known for being rigorous and comprehensive, testing candidates across multiple dimensions including probability, mental math, market knowledge, coding skills, and trading intuition.

💡 Pro tip: IMC values quick thinking, strong analytical skills, and the ability to make decisions under uncertainty. Practice these questions to build confidence and speed.

Trading & Market Making

10 questions

  1. 1.You're a market maker in a stock. The fair value is $100. What spread would you quote and why?
  2. 2.How would you hedge a portfolio of options with different strikes and expiries?
  3. 3.Explain the difference between market making and proprietary trading.
  4. 4.How do you determine the fair value of an illiquid asset?
  5. 5.What factors affect bid-ask spreads in options markets?
  6. 6.How would you manage inventory risk as a market maker?
  7. 7.Explain how you'd make markets in a newly listed stock with no trading history.
  8. 8.What's the impact of transaction costs on market making strategies?
  9. 9.How do you handle adverse selection as a market maker?
  10. 10.Describe a situation where you'd widen your spreads and why.

Probability & Statistics

10 questions

  1. 11.You roll two dice. What's the probability that the sum is greater than 8?
  2. 12.In a deck of 52 cards, you draw 5 cards. What's the probability of getting a full house?
  3. 13.Explain the difference between conditional probability and joint probability.
  4. 14.What's the expected number of coin flips to get two heads in a row?
  5. 15.You have 3 red balls and 2 blue balls in a bag. You draw 2 without replacement. What's the probability both are red?
  6. 16.Explain Bayes' theorem and give a practical example.
  7. 17.What's the variance of the sum of two independent random variables?
  8. 18.How would you test if a coin is fair using 100 flips?
  9. 19.What's the probability that in a room of 30 people, at least two share a birthday?
  10. 20.Explain the law of large numbers and its application in trading.

Mental Math & Brainteasers

10 questions

  1. 21.What's 17 × 23?
  2. 22.Calculate 15% of 240.
  3. 23.What's the square root of 169?
  4. 24.If you buy 100 shares at $47.50 and sell at $52.25, what's your profit?
  5. 25.Convert 3/8 to a decimal.
  6. 26.What's 2^10?
  7. 27.If a stock moves from $80 to $100, what's the percentage gain?
  8. 28.Calculate 7.5% annual interest on $10,000 for 6 months.
  9. 29.What's 1/7 as a decimal (to 3 decimal places)?
  10. 30.If you have $1 million and lose 20%, then gain 25%, what's your final amount?

Options & Derivatives

10 questions

  1. 31.Explain put-call parity.
  2. 32.What factors affect option prices (the Greeks)?
  3. 33.How does implied volatility differ from historical volatility?
  4. 34.When would you use a straddle strategy?
  5. 35.Explain the difference between American and European options.
  6. 36.What happens to option prices as expiration approaches?
  7. 37.How would you delta hedge an option position?
  8. 38.What's gamma risk and how do you manage it?
  9. 39.Explain volatility smile and its causes.
  10. 40.When would implied volatility be higher than historical volatility?

Coding & Algorithms

10 questions

  1. 41.Write a function to calculate the moving average of a price series.
  2. 42.How would you detect arbitrage opportunities in real-time?
  3. 43.Implement a simple order matching engine.
  4. 44.Write code to calculate option Greeks.
  5. 45.How would you design a system to handle 1 million orders per second?
  6. 46.Explain the time complexity of different sorting algorithms.
  7. 47.How would you optimize a backtesting engine for speed?
  8. 48.Write a function to find the maximum profit from buying and selling a stock once.
  9. 49.How would you implement a limit order book?
  10. 50.Design a risk management system for automated trading.

Market Knowledge

10 questions

  1. 51.How do central bank policies affect currency markets?
  2. 52.Explain the relationship between interest rates and bond prices.
  3. 53.What market indicators would you monitor for trading decisions?
  4. 54.How does options expiration affect underlying stock prices?
  5. 55.What's the difference between futures and forwards?
  6. 56.Explain contango and backwardation.
  7. 57.How do ETFs maintain their NAV?
  8. 58.What causes flash crashes and how can they be prevented?
  9. 59.Explain the role of high-frequency trading in modern markets.
  10. 60.How do dark pools work and why do they exist?

Risk Management

10 questions

  1. 61.How would you calculate Value at Risk (VaR)?
  2. 62.Explain different types of risk in trading.
  3. 63.How do you set position limits?
  4. 64.What's the difference between systematic and unsystematic risk?
  5. 65.How would you stress test a trading strategy?
  6. 66.Explain the concept of risk-adjusted returns.
  7. 67.How do you manage correlation risk in a portfolio?
  8. 68.What risk metrics would you monitor in real-time?
  9. 69.How do you handle gap risk in overnight positions?
  10. 70.Explain tail risk and how to hedge against it.

Game Theory & Strategy

10 questions

  1. 71.You're playing a game where you win $2 for heads and lose $1 for tails. Would you play?
  2. 72.Explain the prisoner's dilemma and its application to markets.
  3. 73.In an auction, when should you reveal your true valuation?
  4. 74.How would you approach a zero-sum game?
  5. 75.What's the optimal strategy in rock-paper-scissors?
  6. 76.Explain Nash equilibrium with a trading example.
  7. 77.How do you think about competition with other market makers?
  8. 78.When is cooperation better than competition in markets?
  9. 79.How would you design an auction mechanism?
  10. 80.Explain the concept of signaling in financial markets.

Behavioral Questions

10 questions

  1. 81.Why do you want to work at IMC?
  2. 82.Describe a time you made a decision under pressure.
  3. 83.How do you handle making mistakes in trading?
  4. 84.Tell me about a time you disagreed with a team member.
  5. 85.How do you stay calm during volatile markets?
  6. 86.What interests you about market making?
  7. 87.How do you continue learning about markets?
  8. 88.Describe a complex problem you solved.
  9. 89.How do you prioritize multiple tasks in fast-paced environments?
  10. 90.What's your biggest weakness and how are you addressing it?

Advanced Topics

10 questions

  1. 91.Explain the Heston model for volatility.
  2. 92.How would you price an exotic option?
  3. 93.What's the difference between Q-measure and P-measure?
  4. 94.Explain jump diffusion models.
  5. 95.How do you calibrate a volatility surface?
  6. 96.What's the impact of dividends on option pricing?
  7. 97.Explain local volatility vs stochastic volatility.
  8. 98.How would you model correlation between assets?
  9. 99.What are the limitations of Black-Scholes?
  10. 100.How do you handle American option pricing?

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