Hedge Fund interview questions

[beer money]

Hi everyone,

I have an interview tommorrow for a junior trader position in the futures and options dept. of a respected insitutional money manager/hedge fund. It's just an execution position but it is the break I've been trying to get for the past 4 months and I really want the job. I've done research on the firm, read papers written by my interviewer, brushed up on my option pricing and strategy knowledge and have tried to positively visualize how things will unfold.

My question to anyone who trades/works at an institution is what are some of the questions I may expect?

Just for a little more background they run a volatility arb strategy as well as option overlay programs and indexing return enhancement programs.

I really want this job badly and thanks in advance for any help,
Beer

 

[qazmax]

If there are around 8,000 stocks with 4 letter symbols and 3,000 with 3 letter symbols, and 600 with 2 letter symbols.

How many stocks do you estimate there are with 1 letter symbols?

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Give 3 reasons a man-hole cover is round.

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Approximately how many square acres do you think there is in Arizona?

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[jsimmons]

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Give 3 reasons a man-hole cover is round.

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http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathland_10_21.html

 

[ozzy]

Ahhhhhh what would we do without Google.

Quote from jsimmons:

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Give 3 reasons a man-hole cover is round.

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http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathland_10_21.html

 

[Lefty62151]

You should read the thread titled "Evolution Capital Management". I asked some questions of the person who started the thread. Might be some help for you there.

Use search function and type in the title of the thread

Good luck,

Lefty

 

[PuffyGums]

Quote from qazmax:

If there are around 8,000 stocks with 4 letter symbols and 3,000 with 3 letter symbols, and 600 with 2 letter symbols.

How many stocks do you estimate there are with 1 letter symbols?

Judging from the ratios it should be around 120.

 

[spyglass]

Puffy, Think about it 120 stocks with only one letter, how would that work.

You woudn't get hired at that hedge fund.

 

[ktm]

If you answered 120 and they hired you, I wouldn't show up.

 

[Grob109]

Quote from beer money:

Hi everyone,

I have an interview tommorrow for a junior trader position in the futures and options dept. of a respected insitutional money manager/hedge fund. It's just an execution position but it is the break I've been trying to get for the past 4 months and I really want the job. I've done research on the firm, read papers written by my interviewer, brushed up on my option pricing and strategy knowledge and have tried to positively visualize how things will unfold.

My question to anyone who trades/works at an institution is what are some of the questions I may expect?

Just for a little more background they run a volatility arb strategy as well as option overlay programs and indexing return enhancement programs.

I really want this job badly and thanks in advance for any help,
Beer

A good last Q would be: "Are you going to interview anyone after this interview?"

Seriously I would ask how seriously they take volatility compression as a leading indicator for entries.

 

[5yrtrader]

Quote from PuffyGums:

Judging from the ratios it should be around 120.

I think the most important response to this question is your thought process at arriving at the answer, or why you believe this, not the answer itself